• 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 


OF* 


Class 


{f\       WCt^^<L0L^c\X> 


Ube  *Glntt>erstts  of  Gbtcaao 

FOUNDED   BY  JOHN   D.  ROCKEFELLER 


THE  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO 

THEOLOGY 


A    DISSERTATION    SUBMITTED    TO    THE    FACULTY    OF    THE    GRADUATE 

DIVINITY    SCHOOL    IN    CANDIDACY    FOR    THE    DEGREE 

OF    DOCTOR    OF    PHILOSOPHY 


DEPARTMENT   OF   SYSTEMATIC   THEOLOGY 


UNIVERSITY 
CALIFO* 


BY 

ELIPHALET  ALLISON    READ 


CHICAGO 

TflniversttE  of  Gbicago  press 
1900 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

Belief  in  God    - 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Evolution  of  Religion     -  -          10 

CHAPTER  III 

The  Religion  of  Jesus  and  Its  Relation  to  Philosophy  -     18 

1.  The  Religion  of  Jesus     -  -          18 

2.  The  Development  of  Theology  -  .         .     23 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Greek  Type  of  Theology  -          29 

1.  Clement    -  -     31 

2.  Origen  -  33 

3.  Athanasius  -         .         -     35 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Latin  Type  of  Theology  37 

1.  Tertullian-  .         .         -     38 

2.  Augustine      -  _         _          40 

3.  A  Comparison  of  Latin  and  Greek  Thought        -                            -     43 

CHAPTER  VI 

The  Scholastic  Type  of  Theology  -  44 

1.  Anselm      -  ....     4^ 

2.  Abelard  48 

3.  Thomas  Aquinas  .     49 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Reformed  Theology  .      •  „          tj! 

1.  Luther       -  .     ^2 

2.  Calvin  -  "         -         •          53 

3.  The  Opposition  to  Calvinism  -                                                         .     56 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Modern  Revivals    -  '         -         -          57 

1.  The  Evangelical  Revivals-  .         .      58 

2.  The  Theological  Revival  -                                                -         -          60 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  Future  of  Theology    -         -         -         - 62 


CHAPTER  I. 
BELIEF  IN  GOD. 

Worship  of  God  constitutes  an  integral  part  of  human  life.  The 
religious  aspect  of  history  is  an  index  of  the  intellectual,  moral,  social, 
and  political  conditions  of  the  race.  The  lowest  orders  of  society 
and  the  most  advanced  live,  move,  and  have  their  being,  very  largely 
controlled  by  the  thoughts  clustering  around  the  central  idea  that 
behind  or  beyond  the  observed  phenomena  of  nature  exists  the 
supernatural  as  a  creating  and  modifying  cause.  The  determining 
characteristics  of  the  idea  of  God  vary  with  different  peoples  according 
to  experience,  but  the  conception  itself  is  so  general  and  significant 
that  from  this  standpoint  as  from  no  other  one  may  accurately  per- 
ceive the  progress  of  the  world's  thought,  the  development  of  national 
life,  the  growth  of  moral  consciousness,  the  motive  of  individual 
effort. 

Does  so  universal  a  fact  rest  for  its  validity  upon  a  logical  demon- 
stration ?  No  one  questions  the  value  of  logic  in  applying  this  truth 
to  matters  of  conduct  and  thought.  Indeed,  the  processes  of  reason- 
ing are  constructive  in  faith.  But  our  question  lies  deeper :  Does 
reasoning  create  belief?  "Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God  ?"* 
This  question  does  not  imply  that  God  is  unthinkable.  Nay,  the  idea 
itself  may  condition  thought ;  but  to  say  that  God  is  the  sine  qua  non 
of  thought  is  certainly  not  to  prove  His  absolute  existence.  A  truth 
which  exists  for  thought  is  conditioned  by  it.  For  the  same  reason  a 
truth  which  is  the  result  of  thought  is  not  absolute.  The  logical 
faculty  is  itself  more  independent  than  a  fact  which  is  logically  proved. 
If  by  method  of  proof  we  mean  the  syllogism,  the  result  of  the  process 
is  limited  by  the  nature  of  the  premises.  The  very  character  of  the 
truth  to  be  proved  precludes  the  possibility  of  such  a  thing. 

The  stock  arguments  which  have  been  constructed  in  support  of 
the  truth  of  God's  existence  have  been  mercilessly  shattered  by  logi- 
cians. They  who  have  conquered  by  the  sword  of  reason  have  perished 
by  the  same  weapon.  The  best  that  has  been  done  has  made  God's 
existence  a  postulate  of  reason.  No  proof,  as  such,  has  resulted  in 
putting  the  fact  beyond  dispute. 

1  Job  ii :  7. 

5 


6  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

Among  all  these  attempts  to  prove  the  existence  of  God  the  onto- 
logical  argument  is  the  most  conclusive.  From  the  days  of  Anselm 
until  now  this  form  of  thought  has  been  recognized  as  containing  the 
elements  of  a  satisfactory  solution  to  the  difficulty  presented  in  our 
question.  But  the  most  complete  arrangement  of  these  elements  which 
modern  philosophical  literature  contains1  is  satisfactory,  not  as  proof, 
but  as  a  statement  of  a  fact  lying  deeper  in  human  consciousness  than 
cognition,  in  the  strict  use  of  that  term,  can  possibly  go.  To  say  that 
the  very  fact  of  self-consciousness  demands  a  higher  self  in  which  the 
reflected  phases  of  experience,  the  self  and  the  not-self,  are  unified  is, 
of  course,  to  prove  the  necessity  of  the  higher  self  in  a  process  of  com- 
plete thought ;  but  this  necessity  is  a  logical  necessity  only,  and  hence 
the  higher  self  is  not  real  in  the  sense  of  having  objective  existence.  In 
the  fact  that  this  higher  self  exists  for  reason  knowledge  lies  the  weak- 
ness of  the  ontological  argument. 

The  cosmological  argument  is  equally  unsatisfactory.  This  is  an 
attempt  to  prove  from  the  assumed  facts  of  finite,  conditioned,  and 
contingent  existence  the  reality  of  the  infinite,  absolute,  ontologically 
necessary,  perfect  Being.  Without  the  assumption  the  argument  van- 
ishes away.  Now,  the  nature  of  the  assumption  is  that  of  a  partial 
truth.  The  finite,  the  conditioned,  the  contingent  have  relative  mean-, 
ing  only.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  universe  as  a  complete  whole 
these  things  are  unreal.  We  cannot  say,  from  either  the  individual 
or  the  universal  standpoint,  that  they  are  more  than  objects  of  thought. 
In  contemplating  the  facts  of  finite  existence  the  mind  naturally  seeks 
the  higher  sphere  of  the  infinite  which  alone  gives  meaning  to  the  finite 
as  an  idea.  But  the  infinite,  in  this  case,  is  only  a  condition  of  thought. 
Likewise  the  idea  of  a  first  cause  may  be  the  completion  of  a  logical 
process  in  which  the  causal  notion  finds  rest,  but  to  suppose  that  this 
notion  is  identical  with  the  perfect  Being  is  at  once  to  beg  the  question 
under  discussion.  On  the  basis  of  Aristotelian  realism  the  argument 
is  valid,  but  if  Peripatetic  dogmatism  is  not  final  authority  in  meta- 
physics, the  argument  must  be  abandoned. 

Of  a  different  character,  but  still  less  satisfactory,  is  the  so-called 
teleological  argument.  It  is  an  attempt  to  build  up  first  of  all  the 
premise  that  there  is  manifested  everywhere  in  nature  and  life  a  worthy 
design.  This  is  the  minor  premise  of  the  argument  which  concludes 
that  there  exists  a  single  designing  and  creative  reason  as  the  supreme 
cause  of  the  world.  We  need  not  stop  to  question  the  major  premise 

1  Principal  Caird,  An  Introduction  to  the  Philosophy  of  Religion. 


BELIEF  IN  GOD  7 

which  in  all  cases  of  this  argument  is  assumed  rather  than  inferred. 
But  the  second  proposition  is  supposed  to  be  based  on  actual  observa- 
tion. To  be  true,  all  existences  must  have  as  their  end  something 
worthy  of  a  Creator.  It  is  not  enough  to  find  in  the  world  things  of 
beauty  which  awaken  our  admiration,  nor  even  to  discover  that  the  action 
of  one  thing  upon  another  is  according  to  fixed  mechanical  laws.  We 
must  be  able  to  show  that  the  individual  activities  of  the  forces  of  the 
universe  produce  ends  worthy  of  a  rational  mind.  What  is  the  worthy 
end  produced  by  the  simple  recurrence  of  events  as  seen  in  the  move- 
ments of  heavenly  bodies  ?  Of  course,  these  phenomena  exhibit  a 
balance  and  certainty  which  are  interesting  to  the  mind  of  the  observer. 
In  the  organic  world  there  is  also  observed  complete  adjustment  of  parts 
to  the  whole,  but  what  design  is  exhibited  in  flowersTwhich  are  born  to 
blush  unseen,  and  in  the  countless  forms  of  growth  which  in  no  sense 
adorn  anything  but  the  pages  of  text-books  on  biology  ?  If  we  take 
careful  observations  in  human  life,  the  evidence  of  lack  of  worthy 
design  is  also  superabundant.  Ideals  of  good  are  not  generally 
realized.  People  are  born,  live,  and  die  without  any  purpose  being 
achieved  in  their  lives.  The  living  and  dying  of  thousands  produce  no 
worthy  effect  that  human  eyes  can  see.  To  human  vision  much  of  the 
so-called  development  in  mankind  is  meaningless  movement.  There 
is  just  enough  truth  in  the  design  idea  to  popularize  the  argument, 
certainly  not  enough  to  make  it  conclusive.  We  can  even  go  so  far  as 
to  say  that  to  an  absolute  mind  all  existence  may  be  meaningful,  and 
that  all  facts  give  evidence  of  worthy  ends,  but  this  probability,  since  it 
is  probability,  destroys  the  argument,  as  such. 

As  proofs  these  arguments  are  not  conclusive.  But  this  is  not 
equivalent  to  saying  they  perform  no  part  in  matters  of  belief ;  indeed, 
to  a  certain  type  of  mind  they  are  strong  enough  to  materially  affect 
the  attitude  of  will  which  we  designate  faith.  That  is  to  say,  from  the 
logical  standpoint  they  do  not  necessitate  belief  in  the  existence  of 
God,  while  practically  they  serve  a  worthy  purpose  in  the  lives  of  those 
affected  by  them.  This  is  due,  however,  not  to  the  proofs,  as  such, 
but  to  the  elements  of  truth  which  they  all  contain.  Some  genuine 
phases  of  experience  are  to  be  found  in  all  these  arguments.  And  if 
faith  is  ever  inspired  by  means  of  these  forms  of  statement,  the  credit 
is  to  be  given  to  the  facts  which,  to  most  minds  at  least,  are  as  effect- 
ive in  the  religious  realm  without  the  arguments  as  with  them.  The 
evidences  of  order  and  design  in  the  world  and  human  life  are  suf- 
ficient to  inspire  in  some  the  feeling  of  reverence  and  the  idea  of  a 


o  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

purposing  mind.  The  sight  of  the  starry  heavens,  the  majestic  move- 
ment of  the  heavenly  bodies,  sense-perceptions  taken  up  by  the  imagi- 
nation and  carried  to  the  very  limits  of  thought,  may  awaken  the  sense 
of  the  sublime,  which  to  an  appreciative,  interpretative  soul  is  the  felt 
presence  of  God.  Likewise  the  facts  associated  with  the  ontological 
argument  may  awaken  faith  in  the  Absolute.  In  self-consciousness  may 
be  found  the  elements  of  this  belief.  By  self-consciousness  we  mean, 
not  the  idea  of  it,  but  that  mysterious  thing  itself.  In  every  conscious 
state  the  whole  mind  is  present.  What  characterizes  a  single  "  field"  is 
the  focal  point  therein.  The  state  of  consciousness  in  which  I  occupies 
the  centre  and  not-I  the  "margin"  is  not  at  once  a  clearly  defined  idea, 
but  is  primarily  a  feeling  consisting  of  or  having  associated  with  it  rudi- 
mentary intellection  and  Impulse.  Not  least  of  the  characteristics  in  this 
elementary  stage  of  ideation  concerning  the  self  is  the  consciousness  of 
dependence.  The  self  acts  and  is  acted  upon.  An  original  instinct  is 
thus  set  free.  The  sense  of  otherness  is  sufficient  in  many  cases  to 
lead  almost  immediately  to  an  act  of  faith  in  which  the  self  recognizes 
that  upon  which  it  depends  as  good  and  to  which  it  yields  itself  for  life. 
This  instinct  for  God  is  at  the  very  root  of  self-consciousness.  When 
taken  up  by  the  higher  activities  of  intellection  the  fact  of  God's  exist- 
ence becomes  self-evident. 

This  experience  is  the  element  of  value  in  the  ontological  argument, 
but  does  not  exhaust  the  subject  of  consciousness  as  a  means  of  guaran- 
teeing the  truth  of  God's  existence.  All  knowledge  is  mental  expe- 
rience. Scientific  knowledge  is  mediated  by  the  senses.  That  this  is 
not  all  of  truth  individual  experience  loudly  testifies.  Ever  since 
Kant  wrote  the  Critique  of  Pure  Reason  philosophy  has  reckoned 
seriously  with  the  problem  of  a  knowledge  as  real  as,  if  not  more  so  than, 
that  which  is  grasped  and  coordinated  by  means  of  the  "reason" 
categories.  There  is  a  world  of  truth  to  which  "reason"  is  blind.  It 
is  that  phase  of  the  conscious  process  in  which  are  articulated  the 
fears  and  the  hopes  of  the  human  heart,  the  soul's  appreciation  of  the 
true,  the  beautiful,  and  the  good,  those  meaningful  aspirations  of  man- 
kind for  a  better  life,  and  those  imperative  commands  of  duty.  Are 
these  things  data  for  genuine  knowledge  ?  When  we  examine  the 
experience  of  the  race  as  reflected  in  history,  when  we  interrogate 
ourselves  as  to  the  worthful  elements  of  life,  we  are  impressed  with  the 
importance  which  such  facts  have  in  making  up  the  body  of  accepted 
truth.  Without  judgments  of  value  civilization  could  not  exist,  and 
character,  the  greatest  of  all  realities,  would  be  meaningless.  Out 


BELIEF  IN  GOD  9 

of  these  experiences  springs  belief  in  God.  Human  life  is  aimless 
without  Him.  Duty  is  significant  only  as  the  personal,  moral  law  is 
real.  The  world  is  a  dark  chamber  of  death  without  His  presence. 
Our  very  nature  necessitates  His  existence,  and  by  the  act  of  faith 
which  accepts  Him  as  real  this  which  is  best,  truest,  and  eternal  is 
realized  as  religion.  God  alone  is  absolute  truth,  complete  good, 
eternal  beauty.  The  will  to  believe  is  the  means  by  which  this  truth 
is  mediated,  and  conduct,  worship,  and  creed  express  the  truth  in 
actual,  practical  life. 

We  designate  these  two  orders  of  knowledge  the  philosophical  and 
the  religious.  Each  is  valid  in  its  own  domain.  Philosophy  is  con- 
cerned with  the  universe  as  construed  to  reason.  As  such  it  is  a  prod- 
uct of  the  activity  of  the  mind  in  the  realm  of  phenomena.  It  is  a 
construction  of  knowledge  independent  of  the  demands  of  the  feelings 
and  will.  It  is  a  search  for  the  fundamental  principle  of  existence  as 
related  to  knowledge.  Philosophy  is  the  work  of  individual  minds. 
The  demands  of  thought  are  absolutely  imperative.  It  matters  not  if 
the  Absolute  is  impersonal,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent.  Truth,  not  life, 
is  its  goal. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  sphere  of  religion  is  that  of  moral  values. 
Religion  is  the  consciousness  of  God,  a  recognition  of  being  in  per- 
sonal relationships  with  the  author  of  the  true,  the  good,  and  the  beau- 
tiful. It  is  the  realm  of  devotion,  reverence,  and  love.  It  is  making 
God  a  constant  moral  motive  in  one's  life,  the  exercise  of  faith  in  the 
midst  of  difficulty,  the  yielding  of  one's  self  to  the  demands  of  duty. 
It  springs  from  the  felt  need  of  forgiveness,  the  craving  for  certainty 
and  fellowship,  and  the  desire  for  peace.  It  is  the  life  of  man  at  its 
highest  power. 

If  we  thus  conclude  that  the  sphere  of  religion  is  that  of  faith  and 
the  sphere  of  philosophy  that  of  reason,  that  in  religion  the  experiences 
of  the  moral  nature  are  coordinated  and  in  philosophy  those  of  the 
rational  nature,  that  religion  has  to  do  with  personal  relationships  and 
philosophy  with  the  relations  between  ideas,  that  religion  values  truth 
and  philosophy  searches  for  what  is  true,  that  religion  has  its  end  in 
character  and  philosophy  in  knowledge  —  contrasted  as  they  thus  appear, 
these  two  aspects  of  truth  are  in  fact  interdependent  and  mutually 
conditioning.  All  the  facts  and  laws  of  scientific  knowledge,  when 
interpreted  in  view  of  human  life  and  destiny,  reveal  their  innermost 
significance.  On  the  other  hand,  the  objects  of  faith,  God  and  the 
moral  law,  become  serviceable  by  means  of  rational  comprehension. 


10  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

Religion,  as  it  forms  a  part  of  the  time  process,  is  a  fit  subject  for 
observation,  explanation,  and  classification.  The  interdependence  of 
these  seemingly  contrasted  aspects  of  truth  is  shown  from  the  fact  of 
the  mind  being  an  organic  unit.  Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  con- 
sciousness the  difference  between  them  is  that  of  function  and  form. 
As  related  to  experience  they  are  one. 

The  analysis  of  consciousness  thus  reveals  trustworthy  grounds  for 
belief  in  God.  The  universal  character  of  such  an  attitude  of  mind 
and  heart  as  the  history  of  man  exhibits  is  thus  explained.  Because 
of  this  province  of  faith,  both  in  the  origin  and  outcome  of  religion, 
no  scientific  student  can  afford  to  pass  by  the  realities  of  belief. 
Religion  belongs  to  man.  His  highest  life  is  expressed  in  religious 
terms.  The  future  must  be  governed  ever  more  and  more  by  the 
motive  of  worship. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  RELIGION. 

Every  worthy  phase  of  human  life  is  a  result  of  previous  stages  of 
development.  Religion  is  no  exception  to  this  fact.  Conceptions  of 
God  have  undergone  modification  according  to  the  changes  in  the 
mental  and  moral  horizon  of  man.  The  being  of  God  is  eternal,  but 
knowledge  of  Him  is  imperfect  as  long  as  the  means  of  comprehend- 
ing divine  truth  are  imperfect.  Even  revelation  is  partial,  is  incom- 
plete, when  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  God.  Language  is 
inadequate  to  convey  the  full  significance  of  the  Infinite. 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  religion,  which  is  related  to  the 
highest  welfare  of  man,  has  at  every  stage  of  progress  been  adapted  and 
accommodated  to  the  conditions  of  human  life.  The  religion  suited 
to  man's  highest  needs  would  be*  inefficient  when  these  needs  were 
unrecognized.  Belief  in  God  is  not  a  ready-made  product,  an  objec- 
tive, perfected  gift  from  heaven.  The  laws  of  mental  life  are  not  con- 
tradicted, or  set  aside  in  this  realm.  All  knowledge  is  at  first  vague 
and  indefinite.  The  progress  of  religion  has  been  by  a  process  some- 
what similar  to  the  unfolding  life  of  a  child.  Knowledge  of  home  is 
in  the  early  stages  of  his  life  very  incomplete.  The  meaning  of 
parental  love  is  made  clear  by  means  of  experience.  The  care  of  the 
child  on  the  part  of  the  parent  is  constant,  but  appreciation  of  that 
interest  and  affection  from  the  child's  standpoint  grows  with  the  suc- 
ceeding years.  In  some  such  way  man  comes  to  know  God. 


EVOLUTION  OF  RELIGION  1 1 

I  say  that  man  was  made  to  grow  and  not  stop  : 

That  help  he  needed  once  and  needs  no  more, 

Having  grown  but  an  inch  by  is  withdrawn ; 

For  he  hath  new  needs  and  new  helps  to  these. 

This  imports  solely,  man  should  mount  on 

Each  new  height  in  view ;  the  help  whereby  he  mounts, 

The  ladder-rung  his  foot  has  left  may  fall, 

Since  all  things  suffer  change  save  God  the  truth. 

Man  apprehends  him  newly  at  each  stage, 

Whereat  earth's  ladder  drops,  its  service  done. 

God's  gift  was  that  man  should  conceive  of  truth 

And  yearn  to  gain  it,  catching  at  mistakes 

As  midway  helps,  till  he  reach  fact  indeed.1 

In  endeavoring  to  ascertain  the  character  of  primitive  belief  in  God 
one  finds  himself  confronted  with  almost  insurmountable  difficulties. 
Scientific  research  can  carry  the  student  back  into  the  dawn  of  history. 
Beyond  this  all  is  shadowy  and  conjectural.  Just  as  in  the  dawn  of 
day  the  earth,  sea,  and  sky  form  pictures  more  or  less  unreal,  give 
impressions  on  the  organ  of  vision  which  the  rising  sun  modifies  or 
dispels,  so  earliest  history  is  accompanied  by  imaginings  on  the  part  of 
the  searcher  for  truth,  fancies  of  thought,  which,  doubtless,  are  very 
imperfect  descriptions  of  facts. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  this  prehistoric  period  of  human  life,  the 
earliest  accounts  of  the  doings  of  the  race  contain  evidence  that  one 
chief  concern  of  man  was  religious  observance.  Every  civilization  has 
been  characterized  by  belief  in  the  Eternal.  Did  religion  have  its 
origin  in  instinctive  fear,  instinctive  demand  for  explanation,  or 
instinctive  will  to  live  ?  Undoubtedly  these  factors,  perhaps  many 
others,  played  an  important  part.  The  destructive  forces  about  him 
awoke  the  sense  of  dependence  in  man ;  the  never-ending  process  of 
change  in  nature  stimulated  inquiry  in  the  realm  of  cause ;  and  the 
struggle  for  life  developed  undoubtedly  the  spirit  which  resists  annihi- 
lation. 

These  causes  may  imperfectly  explain  the  existence  of  Nature-wor- 
ship, Ancestor-worship,  and  worship  of  the  Supreme  One,  all  of  which 
forms  of  religion  are  found  in  earliest  civilization.  The  experience  of 
man  was  translated  into  ceremonies  which  to  him  were  prayer  for  pro 
pitiation,  protection,  and  deliverance.  As  the  child  endows  with  life  all 
moving  objects  'about  him,  so  the  savage  gives  life  to  the  forces  of 
nature  and  seeks  their  aid  to  enable  him  to  avoid  destruction.  The 
1  Browning,  A  Death  in  the  Desert. 


12  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

vicissitudes  of  life  accompanying  the  rise  of  the  social  order  had  a 
tendency  to  call  into  prominence  the  heroes  of  war.  The  victorious 
chieftain  received  reverence  and  adoration  from  the  members  of  the 
clan.  Even  his  death  could  not  efface  his  memory.  He  then  became 
their  divinity.  As  clans  were  merged  into  tribes  the  conditions  were 
favorable  for  forming  a  hierarchy  of  such  gods.  Circumstances  of  con- 
quest determined  the  order  of  greatness.  Eventually,  as  society 
became  more  permanent,  there  was  brought  into  clearer  light  the 
belief  in  one  God  who  was  above  all  others  in  power.  This  being  was 
usually  a  Nature-spirit. 

Is  it  possible  that  the  modern  conceptions  of  God  found  in  the  great 
religions  of  the  earth  are  outgrowths  from  such  beginnings  ?  One 
might  as  well  ask  if  the  modern  methods  of  manufacture  have  any 
historic  connection  with  the  crude  modes  of  work  in  the  Stone  Age. 
To  affirm  that  religion  began  under  conditions  and  assumed  forms 
altogether  contrary  to  our  modern  ideas  does  not  in  any  sense  detract 
from  the  worthfulness  of  faith.  Nor  does  such  an  affirmation  cast  any 
reflection  upon  the  Christian  religion  as  one  of  special  revelation. 
Jesus  came  in  the  fulness  of  time.  Could  he  have  come  any  earlier  in 
the  development  of  civilization  and  achieved  the  end  for  which  he 
came  ?  Nay,  the  steps  of  the  race  as  well  as  of  the  righteous  are 
ordered  of  the  Lord.  Some  suppose  that  to  conclude  that  religion 
had  a  natural  origin  entirely  does  away  with  any  sense  of  authority  in 
matters  of  faith.  Not  at  all,  for  the  natural  is  supernatural.  God  is 
in  the  history  of  man  leading  him  by  meaningful  steps  of  experience 
to  understand  his  law.  The  Old  Testament  itself  is  proof  that  the  best 
that  God  could  do  for  man  was  achieved  by  a  series  of  progressive 
stages.  It  can  be  no  aspersion  on  commerce,  on  politics,  on  literature, 
on  art,  or  on  society  to  say  that  all  these  phases  of  life  had  humble 
and  meagre  forms  of  intelligence  in  which  to  first  express  themselves. 
If  so,  these  primitive  ideas  of  God  found  in  Nature-worship,  in  Ancestor- 
worship,  and  so  forth,  may  justly  be  considered  as  the  lawful  begin- 
nings of  true  religion. 

.  What,  then,  has  been  the  law  of  religious  development  ?  This  ques- 
tion can  be  answered  by  examining  the  most  constructive  side  of 
individual  experience,  namely,  the  activities  of  the  will.  In  the  fact 
that  the  moral  nature  of  the  race  has  undergone  transformation,  that 
the  moral  consciousness  has  been  enriched  and  ennobled,  we  find  the 
clue  to  the  solution  of  the  problem.  The  recognition  of  good  has  deter- 
mined for  man  the  content  of  his  conception  of  God.  This  has  not  been 


E  VOL  UTION  OF  RELIGION  1 3 

without  God's  help,  as  some  would  suppose.  In  our  inner  life  there  is  a 
miniature  universe.  Individual  experience  gets  its  value  from  the 
dictator  of  duty,  the  soul's  idea  of  the  summum  bonum.  The  processes 
of  thought,  feeling,  and  will,  complete  the  circle  of  possible  knowledge. 
The  idea  of  God  is  immediately  related  to  these  processes  of  experi- 
ence. The  purest  thought,  the  most  aesthetic  appreciation,  the  most 
constant  and  absolute  worth  is  God.  These  experiences  of  the  soul  in 
no  sense  exhaust  Him,  in  no  sense  measure  the  infinity  of  His  being. 
They  are  but  reflected  rays  from  the  source  of  light. 

That  this  subjective  fact  is  guaranteed  in  objective  truth  rests  upon 
an  assumption  that  there  is  a  kinship  between  the  soul  and  Deity.  The 
statement  of  Scripture  that  man  was  made  in  the  image  of  God  would 
be  to  many  sufficient  evidence  that  it  is  not  only  an  assumption.  It  is 
revelation,  and  the  experience  of  the  race  has  put  the  fact  beyond 
dispute.  That  moral  endeavor  has  meaning,  that  there  is  truth  which 
is  not  relative,  that  life  is  not  an  empty  bubble,  receives  validity  in  the 
same  assumption.  Man's  best  ideal  of  goodness  is  somewhat  like  God. 
Humanity  and  divinity  are  not  incommensurable  terms.  Unless  this 
is  so,  man  is  no  better  than  the  lower  forms  of  organic  life. 

Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  history  God  is  a  process  of  valua- 
tion. We  are  constantly  recasting  our  conceptions  of  Him  in  the  light 
of  moral  experiences.  The  law  of  religious  development  is  herein 
made  manifest.  It  is  the  law  which  is  exhibited  in  the  growth  of 
moral  standards,  in  the  strengthening  and  purifying  of  the  moral  con- 
sciousness. As  the  inner  life  of  man  seeks  higher  and  higher  attain- 
ment, urged  on  by  the  ever-present  spirit  of  truth,  so  by  this  means  his 
religion  is  given  clearer  and  more  definite  significance.  The  element 
of  time  is  a  necessity  here  as  elsewhere.  God  is  progressively  known. 
This  knowledge  has  its  beginning  in  the  vague  notion  apprehended 
by  the  intuition  of  the  soul,  and  completes  its  course  for  the  individual 
in  the  wider  ranges  of  experience  by  means  of  all  the  light  which 
spiritual  truth  sheds  upon  the  spheres  in  which  he  lives.  In  the  last 
analysis  God  and  the  good  are  one. 

Religion  which  is  co-extensive  with  the  life  of  the  race  is  thus 
changed,  purified,  and  spiritualized  by  means  of  the  evolution  of  the 
moral  sentiments.  However,  this  modification,  which  is  perceptible  in 
broad  epochs  of  history,  is  brought  about,  not  always  by  the  noiseless 
methods  of  transformation  observed  in  the  organic  world  of  nature, 
but  as  frequently  by  revolution  and  disruption.  This  is  due  to  the 
universal  tendency  of  religion  to  fix  itself  in  dogma,  institutions,  and 


X4  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

ceremonial  worship.  In  the  course  of  time  these  externals  become 
identified  with  religion  of  the  spirit  and  block  the  way  for  religious 
progress.  This  is  the  history  of  thought  which  leads  to  reformation. 
This  tendency  to  externalism  is  the  explanation  of  the  other  fact,  so 
frequently  observed  in  the  history  of  the  race,  that  the  formal  religion 
of  a  period  is  generally  somewhat  behind  the  moral  ideals  of  the  con- 
temporary prophets  of  righteousness. 

A  brief  survey  of  the  religion  of  the  Greeks  and  that  of  the  Israelites 
will  serve  to  illustrate  the  operation  of  this  law  of  religious  development. 

Grecian  mythology  assumed  the  character  of  the  people  among 
whom  it  arose.  Gods  were  like  men  endowed  with  passion  and  greed. 
Homer  and  Hesiod  sang  in  immortal  verse  their  deeds  of  valor,  and 
encouraged  the  people  to  worship.  When  in  later  years  Greek  phi- 
osophy  had  its  birth,  and  social  customs  and  religious  practices  were 
subjected  to  the  close  scrutiny  of  the  lofty-minded  Eleatics,  the  imper- 
fections of  these  religious  ideas  were  brought  to  light.  The  people 
would  no  longer  worship  gods  who  were  blameworthy,  shameful,  full 
of  theft,  adultery,  and  deceit,  when  once  the  moral  consciousness  was 
quickened  by  the  new  spirit.  Against  the  abominations  of  the  early 
Greek  religion  Xenophanes  utters  his  voice :  "  One  there  is  mightiest 
among  men  who  neither  in  form  nor  thought  is  like  unto  men.  Yet 
mortals  think  that  gods  like  themselves  are  born,  have  shape,  voice, 
and  raiment.  Surely  if  lions  and  cows  had  hands  as  men  do  they 
would  make  gods  like  themselves.  Horses  would  have  horse-like 
gods,  and  cows  would  have  gods  with  horns  and  hoofs."1 

Such  criticisms  meant  the  downfall  of  Greek  polytheism.  The  best 
thought  of  the  time  was  directed  away  from  these  crude  conceptions  of 
religion  to  find  a  temporary  satisfaction  in  the  study  of  nature.  The 
popular  demand  for  objects  of  worship  was  gratified  by  the  conception 
of  an  abstract  basis  of  existence,  the  First  Cause.  He  was  the  source 
of  all  being  —  nay,  He  was  being  itself,  the  all-inclusive  unity.  Specu- 
lation was  thus  freed  from  the  control  of  religious  dogma,  and  delight- 
ing in  its  freedom  produced  many  phases  of  thought. 

Platonic  idealism  and  Aristotelian  realism  left  for  the  Greeks  meta- 
physical conceptions  of  the  Absolute  altogether  devoid  of  religious 
value.  God  is  pure  form  or  idea,  self-moved  primal  reason,  exalted  in 
majesty  above  the  world  in  which  man  has  his  being.  He  is  anterior 
and  superior  to  all  existence.  His  life  consists  in  reflection  upon  all 
intelligible  truth. 

'Mullach,  p.  101. 


AJ.J 


EVOLUTION  OF  RELIGION  15 

The  most  religious  aspect  of  Greek  thought  is  that  expressed  in 
the  philosophy  of  the  Stoics.  The  influence  of  Aristotle's  conception 
of  God  as  a  being  completely  transcending  the  world  was  met  by  the 
Stoic  idea  of  divine  immanence.  To  the  Stoics  God  was  the  soul  of 
the  world,  the  universal,  living  reason  which  guides  and  governs  all 
things.  God  penetrates  the  world  everywhere  and  is  the  source  of  its 
life.  Cleanthes  thus  addresses  the  Ruler  of  the  world  : 

Zeus,  ruler  of  nature,  that  governest  all  things  with  law, 
Hail !  for  lawful  it  is  that  all  mortals  should  address  Thee. 

For  we  are  Thy  offspring 

Therefore  will  I  hymn  Thee  and  sing  Thy  might  forever, 
For  Thee  doth  all  this  universe  that  circles  round  the  earth  obey, 
moving  whither-so-ever  Thou  leadest,  and  is  gladly  swayed  by  Thee. 
....  Thou  guidest  aright  the  Universal  Reason,  that  roams  through 
all  things  mingling  itself  with  the  greater  and  the  lesser  lights,  till 
it  have  grown  so  great,  and  become  Supreme  King  over  all.1 
But  speculative  metaphysics  had  too  strong  a  hold  on  the  Greek 
mind  to  permit  this  religious  impulse  having  free  course.     The  ques- 
tion of  nature  and  its  cause  finally  resolved  itself  into  the  critical  ques- 
tion of  knowledge  or  the  nature  of  mind,  and  in  the  conflict  between 
scepticism  and  dogmatism  Greek  philosophy  went  out  into  the  dark- 
ness and  mystery  of  Neo-Platonism  with  its  conception  of  God  as  the 
Supreme  One  "who  is  everything  and  nothing  imaginable." 

Greek  philosophy  overthrew  polytheism,  but  put  nothing  in  its 
place  save  abstract  metaphysics.  This  utter  failure,  as  viewed  from  the 
religious  standpoint,  illustrates  the  principle  that  without  a  strong  and 
clear  moral  consciousness  dominant  in  religion  religious  development 
is  impossible.  When  the  Greek  lost  faith  in  the  gods,  religion  as  an 
institution  fell  into  decay.  Henceforth  expressions  of  belief  in  the 
Infinite  were  individual  in  obedience  to  individual  conceptions  of 
reality.  With  Plato  reality  was  ideal,  and  God  was  the  idea  of  good. 
With  Socrates  reality  was  moral  conduct,  and  God  was  justice  and 
truth.  With  Aristotle  reality  was  form,  and  God  was  pure  thought. 
With  the  Stoics  reality  was  active  reason,  and  God  was  law.  With  the 
sceptics  of  all  schools  reality  could  not  be  known,  and  God  was  not. 
With  the  Neo-Platonists  reality  was  a  process  of  emanation,  and  God 
was  the  transcendent  origin  and  end  of  all  things.  Without  a  con- 
tinuity of  moral  consciousness  there  could  be  no  development  of  faith. 
The  last  word  of  pre-Christian  metaphysics  was  —  despair. 

1  Translated  by  T.  W.  Rolleston.  The  hymn  in  complete  form  may  be  found  in 
Mahaffy's  Greek  Life  and  Thought. 


1 6  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

The  development  of  religion  more  directly  related  to  the  best  con- 
ception of  God  is  found  in  the  history  of  Israel.  In  pre-prophetic 
times  Jehovah  was  the  God  of  the  Israelites,  and  they  His  peculiar 
people.  He  fought  their  battles  and  sent  blessings  upon  their  flocks 
and  families.  The  gods  of  other  tribes  were  inferior  to  Jehovah, 
and  Israel  could  do  no  greater  wrong  than  to  forsake  His  worship. 
Jehovah  was  jealous  when  His  people  sought  the  favor  of  other 
gods.1 

Jehovah  was  preeminently  a  moral  God.  In  addition  to  His  attri- 
butes of  power  He  was  holy  and  just.  He  demanded  worship,  but 
always  insisted  on  His  people  having  innocency  of  hand  and  purity 
of  heart.  Prophets  denounced  idolatry  and  sin.  They  prayed  for 
deliverance  from  the  bondage  of  iniquity,  that  the  blessing  of  righteous- 
ness might  rest  upon  the  nation.  They  with  keenest  insight  saw  a 
holy  will  as  the  guardian  of  the  people's  welfare.  As  they  looked 
back  over  the  successes  and  defeats,  the  varied  experience  of  Israel 
since  the  days  of  Moses,  they  were  able  to  discern  the  real  character  of 
God.  His  blessing  attended  righteous  conduct,  His  punishment  fol- 
lowed disobedience  to  the  moral  law.  This  revelation  by  means  of 
the  voice  of  prophecy  was  the  salvation  of  the  religion  of  Israel. 
Unlike  the  Greeks,  the  Israelites  were  never  called  upon  to  decide 
between  morality  and  religion.  Their  manner  of  life  was  such  that 
the  moral  ideal  was  constantly  purified.  They  at  length,  by  bitter 
experience,  learned  the  lesson  that  Jehovah  is  alone  God,  and  that 
because  of  the  power  of  righteousness  Israel's  kingdom  would  yet 
extend  and  include  the  world. 

The  one  dominating  conception  in  Jewish  religious  history  was 
thus  the  holiness  of  God.  The  Jews  became  the  religious  teachers  of 
the  world  because  of  the  potency  of  this  idea.  This  moral  principle 
animated  Jewish  life  and  was  the  motive  power  in  developing  the  Jew- 
ish religion.  To  the  Jews  God  was  always  the  embodiment  of  their 
highest  ideal.  The  content  of  this  ideal  is  unfolded  in  their  history 
from  the  time  of  Moses  until  Samuel,  from  Samuel  to  the  great  prophets 
of  the  eighth  century,  from  that  time  to  the  days  of  the  captivity  and 
the  restoration,  from  the  restoration  and  the  consequent  ceremonialism 
to  the  days  of  the  Roman  conquest,  until  finally,  purified  and  enriched 
by  the  message  and  life  of  Jesus,  the  conception  of  God's  loving  holi- 
ness was  set  free  from  the  narrow  confines  of  Judaism  to  bless  mankind 
with  a  perfect  faith. 

1  Exodus  20:2,3;   I  Samuel  1 7  : 46. 


EVOLUTION  OF  RELIGION  I? 

This  contribution  to  religious  development  is  incomparably  greater 
than  that  wrought  out  in  Greek  philosophy.  The  metaphysical  specu- 
lations of  the  Greeks  command  our  admiration,  but  the  religious  con- 
victions of  Israel  grip  man's  inner  life  and  quicken  his  conscience. 
The  Greek  began  his  speculations  with  a  study  of  nature,  and  arrived 
finally  at  an  abstract  conception  of  the  world-ground.  The  Israelite 
began  with  the  thought  of  a  protecting  deity  who  was  holy  and  just, 
and  finally  reached  the  conception  of  a  God  whose  will  is  absolute. 
To  the  Greek  God  was  a  regulative  notion ;  to  the  Israelite  He  was  an 
object  of  worship,  an  active,  living,  personal  reality.  To  the  Greek 
God  was  the  rational  order  of  the  world  ;  to  the  Israelite  He  was  the 
author  and  vindicator  of  the  moral  order.  One  development  resulted 
in  metaphysical  monism,  the  other  in  ethical  monotheism. 

Thus  in  the  life  of  these  two  great  peoples  the  law  of  religious 
development  is  illustrated.  Belief  in  God  is  enriched  as  human  expe- 
rience is  widened  and  deepened  in  the  moral  realm.  In  primitive 
conditions,  when  the  intellect  of  man  is  undeveloped  and  the  moral 
consciousness  is  obscure,  man  cannot  know  God  as  He  is,  even  though 
audible  voices  should  proclaim  Him.  Knowledge  of  God  to  be  effect- 
ive and  complete  must  be  mediated  in  human  experience.  Hence  to 
ascribe  to  the  Absolute  the  most  worthy  ideals  and  to  realize  their 
potency  in  developing  character  is  a  true  means  of  knowing  Him.  In 
doing  the  truth  man  comes  to  spiritual  light. 

Because  Jesus  is  the  full  expression  of  man's  highest  moral  ideal 
he  is  a  perfect  revelation  of  God.  Because  in  him  the  life  of  God  was 
lived  under  real  human  conditions  he  is  the  Saviour  of  men.  Because 
he  fulfils  the  desire  of  the  soul  in  its  aspiration  for  the  true,  the  beauti- 
ful, and  the  good,  because  his  moral  nature  is  inexhaustible,  he  is  the 
supreme  authority  for  religious  life.  Henceforth  progress  toward  a 
more  worthy  conception  of  God  is  by  him  who  is  the  way,  the  truth, 
and  the  life.  He,  who  by  his  matchless  personality  re-created  the  con- 
verging lines  of  philosophy  and  religion,  is  the  answer  to  every  doubt 
that  may  harass  the  Christian.  The  moral  ideals  of  the  prophets  of 
all  ages  and  the  deepest  reality  after  which  philosophy  seeks  find  in 
him  a  perfect  synthesis. 

"And  so  the  Word  had  breath,  and  wrought 
With  human  hands  the  Creed  of  Creeds, 
In  loveliness  of  perfect  deeds, 
More  strong  than  all  poetic  thought." 


1 8  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

CHAPTER    III. 
THE  RELIGION  OF  JESUS  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  PHILOSOPHY. 

Jesus  came  into  the  world  as  a  messenger  from  God.  His  was  a 
new  revelation  to  an  age  that  sadly  needed  divine  help.  He  was  born 
at  a  time  when  to  human  eyes  the  world  had  reached  a  fearful  crisis. 
Philosophical  scepticism  was  dominant  in  the  centres  of  Greek  thought. 
Here  religion  was  dead,  and  metaphysics,  its  substitute,  failed  to  satisfy 
the  demands  of  the  human  heart.  Among  the  Romans  of  the  capital, 
religion,  consisting  of  heathen  rites  and  ceremonies,  was  exceedingly 
popular.  Even  social  functions  were  carried  on  with  forms  of  worship, 
but  these  religious  acts  were  as  depraved  as  the  degenerated  condition 
of  Roman  society  called  for,  and  that  was  as  low  as  the  human  imagi- 
nation could  portray.  Man  has  never  more  thoroughly  disgraced  him- 
self than  did  the  citizens  of  Rome  during  the  early  years  of  our  era. 
Wealth  and  leisure  had  borne  fruit  in  the  complete  decay  of  standards 
of  conduct.  Rome,  the  mistress  of  the  world,  opulent  and  exalted,  was 
daily  being  betrayed  by  the  perfidy  and  indulgence  of  her  subjects. 
The  once  proud  and  stately  Empire  tottered  on  its  crumbling  founda- 
tion. In  Palestine  the  Jews  were  made  to  suffer  the  heavy  bondage  of 
taxation  and  the  spirit-breaking  power  of  a  foreign  sovereign.  This 
awoke  new  expectations  of  a  deliverer.  Added  to  this  political  sub- 
jection was  the  more  grievous  yoke  of  traditionalism.  Legalism  had 
blasted  religious  life.  Yet  they  had  faith.  The  priestly  class  by  teach- 
ing and  example  presented  a  caricature  of  the  God  whom  the  prophets 
had  declared.  How  sad  is  the  picture  which  Judaism  presents  in  those 
days  !  The  people  had  a  deep  sense  of  God,  yet  had  no  hope  of  fellow- 
ship with  Him.  They  longed  for  deliverance  from  sin,  yet  the  way 
through  ceremonial  observances  was  weary  and  uncertain.  In  their  zeal 
for  religion  they  had  lost  its  power.  They  were  quick  in  conscience, 
but  altogether  misguided  in  judgment.  The  dark  night  of  formalism 
was  lighted  with  no  star  of  spiritual  illumination.  It  is  little  wonder 
that  despair  was  gradually  taking  the  place  of  expectation.  Such  were 
the  conditions  of  religious  and  social.,  life  when  Jesus  began  his  career 
as  the  Saviour  of  men. 

I.       THE    RELIGION    OF   JESUS. 

He  who  came  as  the  supreme  revealer  of  God  to  man  established 
no  formal  religion,  organized  no  formal  society,  propounded  no  sys- 
tem of  dogma,  left  no  written  creed  for  those  who  should  become 
believers  in  his  truth.  His  revelation  was  primarily  a  life,  and  the 


RELIGION  OF  JESUS  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  PHILOSOPHY      19 

potency  of  his  message  was  in  a  living  realization  of  the  truth  he 
taught.  He  was  the  exponent  of  religion  in  terms  of  feeling  and  will- 
ing. 

When  the  personal  factor  is  forgotten  the  key  to  the  mysteries  of 
God  disclosed  in  Jesus  is  lost.  What  he  experienced  in  thinking,  in 
feeling,  in  willing  is  Christianity.  This  form  of  religion  is  unique  in 
that  its  code  of  ethics  is  derived  from  a  real  human  and  divine  life? 
not  theoretically  stated  in  form  of  precepts.  Jesus  nowhere  enjoins 
any  duty  upon  a  disciple  which  has  not  first  been  tested  in  his  own 
experience.  The  self-consciousness  of  the  man  of  Nazareth  is  the  full 
source  of  his  revelation  to  the  world.  And,  consequently,  what  cannot 
be  found  there  cannot  possibly  belong  to  this  religion.  He,  not  law, 
not  ritual,  not  creed,  is  the  standard  of  conduct  and  belief. 

More  than  this,  his  earthly  experience  was  the  constructive  factor 
in  his  revelation.  Not  only  did  he  experience  to  the  full  extent  the 
Gospel  which  was  his  revelation,  but  that  experience  was  the  source  of 
it  for  himself.  The  incarnation  was  not  a  fictitious  parade  of  God  in 
human  disguise.  The  growth  of  Jesus  from  babyhood  to  manhood 
was  normal  and  natural.  Nowhere  previous  to  his  baptism  can  there 
be  found  evidence  of  miraculous  power  or  knowledge.  In  his  develop- 
ment, physical  and  mental,  he  was  subject  to  human  limitations. 
Without  this  being  a  fact  the  incarnation  is  a  fiction.  His  consciousness 
was  a  result  of  actual  time  and  space  events,  and  his  religious  knowl- 
edge was  the  product  of  moral  judgment  upon  these  same  perceptions. 

Hence  the  revelation  given  in  the  consciousness  of  Jesus  is  an  inter- 
pretation of  actual  human  events,  and  not,  as  some  suppose,  new  fact, 
new  truth,  brought  from  other  worlds.  The  genius  of  this  religion  is 
thus  disclosed.  This  is  the  explanation  of  its  mighty  influence  among 
men.  Jesus  came  not  to  re-create  the  world  or  man.  He  does  not 
even  promise  that  the  world's  burdens  shall  be  removed.  He  teaches 
that  the  secret  of  life,  of  happiness,  of  success  is  to  be  found,  not  by 
destroying  nature,  not  by  overthrowing  natural  law,  but  by  rising 
morally  superior  to  difficulty,  disappointment,  disease,  and  death. 
The  world  of  salvation  is  not  an  enchanted  realm,  but  a  spiritualized 
natural  one. 

The  religion  of  Jesus  springs  from  and  is  controlled  by  an  appre- 
ciation on  his  part  of  God's  Fatherliness.  He  everywhere  takes  for 
granted  the  existence  of  the  Father,  and  is  chiefly  concerned  with  set- 
ting forth  His  nature  as  the  God  over  all.  He  avoids  the  metaphysical 
terminology,  and  makes  use  of  the  ethical  in  his  preaching.  The 


20  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

problem  of  reality  was  to  him  intensely  moral.  Personal  relationships 
were  supreme.  So  that  religion  rather  than  philosophy  characterizes 
his  utterances.  We  cannot  imagine  Jesus  indulging  in  the  barren  dis- 
putes of  the  schoolmen.  Salvation  was  not  for  him  a  problem  in  logic, 
but  one  of  will  and  motive.  God  existed,  not  as  postulate  of  reason, 
but  as  a  pulsating  heart  of  love.1 

The  Fatherliness  of  God  is  the  thought  which  interprets  all  the  facts 
of  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus.  This  explains  the  personal  life  of  inti- 
mate communion,  fellowship,  and  dependence,  enjoined  upon  his  dis- 
ciples, no  less  than  his  own  source  of  power  and  joy.  Indeed,  to  bring 
his  disciples  and  through  them  all  men  to  see,  to  believe,  to  appreciate 
the  fact  that  God  loves  as  a  holy  Father,  that  human  life  is  worthy 
when  lived  with  this  as  a  ruling  motive,  may  be  said  to  be  the  mission 
of  Jesus  to  the  world.  In  other  words,  to  re-live  God's  life  on  earth 
constituted  the  sum  total  of  his  work,  and  likewise  the  realization  of 
that  same  sort  of  life  among  men  was  the  supreme  end  of  true  religion. 

Thus  the  energy,  the  deeds,  the  thought,  the  prayer,  the  devotion, 
and  sacrifice  of  Jesus'  life  were  intended  to  save  men.  He  was  willing 
to  go  to  the  extreme  depth  of  suffering  if  thereby  the  world  could  be 
won  to  filial  and  fraternal  service.  The  cross  in  which  the  revelation 
of  Jesus  finds  its  climax  is  luminous  with  divine  light.  The  death  of 
the  Son  of  Man  shows  how  far  man  will  go  in  rebellion  against  God. 
Sin  will  put  to  death  him  who  dies  to  save  from  sin.  Injustice,  ingrati- 
tude, infamy  never  had  so  clearly  portrayed  its  utter  depravity  as  in 
the  sufferings  of  the  Christ.  But  this  is  not  all.  There  is  revealed 
also  in  this  momentous  event  how  far  God  will  go  in  the  rescue  of  man 
from  sin.  The  suffering  Son  of  Man  is  a  picture  of  divine  love  bear- 
ing the  weight,  the  penalty  of  man's  transgression.  God  did  not  begin 
to  be  forgiving  when  these  sufferings  were  completed,  nor  did  He  begin 
to  work  for  man's  redemption  on  the  occasion  of  the  incarnation. 
What  He  was  eternally,  the  holy-loving  Father,  He  was  exhibited  to  be 
in  the  historic  career  of  Jesus.  The  exhibition  was  not  for  the  sake  of 
changing  God's  nature,  but  for  the  sake  of  winning  back  the  wayward 
race  of  man. 

Jesus  never  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  God  is  supreme.  His  life  was 
one  of  absolute  dependence.  His  will  was  to  do  the  will  of  Him. 
God  was  Father.  He  was  as  Son  the  Son  of  Man.  The  Kingdom  of 
God  was  His  will  realized  in  human  affairs.  So  completely  was  he 

1  The  new  impression  thus  made  on  the  world,  of  the  character  of  God,  is  one  of 
the  preeminent  facts  of  history.  Storrs,  Divine  Origin  of  Christianity,  p.  54. 


RELIGION  OF  JESUS  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  PHILOSOPHY      21 

submissive  to  this  conception  that  his  life  was  made  up  of  deeds  and 
words,  not  his  own,  but  inspired  from  on  high.  God's  will  was  not  an 
external  power  before  which  Jesus  bowed,  but  it  was  an  inward  prin- 
ciple constantly  actuating  him.  So  perfectly  were  these  deeds  and 
thoughts  in  accord  with  the  Father's  purposes  and  acts  that  with- 
out egotism  he  could  say  :  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 
Father." 

A  new  appraisal  of  man  accompanied  this  idea  of  Fatherliness.  In 
the  light  of  this  conception  of  God  man  assumed  the  dignity  of  son- 
ship.  Jesus  saw  beneath  the  ruins  of  sin  the  remnants  of  worthy  man- 
hood. He  adjusted  his  own  life  to  the  process  of  saving  the  world, 
because  he  recognized  that  all  the  forces  at  play  in  human  life  were 
remedial.  Man  was  a  son,  but  a  lost  son.  Sin  had  so  warped  his 
nature  that  he  scarcely  could  be  called  a  child  of  God.  His  will  was 
too  perverse  to  enjoy  God's  blessing.  His  soul  was  being  starved  with 
the  husks  of  vain  delights.  Even  so,  man  was  worth  saving.  The  love 
of  God  is  universal.  The  evil  and  the  good  enjoy  God's  blessing. 
More  than  this,  salvation  is  the  one  dominating  passion  of  the  Divine 
heart.  Man's  value  is  infinite  because  of  this  love.  Not  what  he  is, 
but  what  he  may  become,  constitutes  the  reality  of  man. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Jesus  constructed  no  theory  of  moral 
depravity.  The  fact  of  sin  needed  no  argument  to  verify  it.  It  was  as 
evident  to  his  moral  perception  as  the  shining  of  the  midday  sun  to 
the  eye  of  sense.  The  philosophical  explanation  of  the  origin  of  evil 
caused  him  no  concern.  Sin  could  not  be  eliminated  from  the  prob- 
lem of  man's  best  interests.  It  was  a  part  of  man's  nature.  The 
problem  of  overcoming  evil  was  not  to  be  simplified  by  logical 
deductions.  There  was  only  one  remedy,  repentance  and  forgiveness. 
God  was  ever  ready  to  receive  the  repentant  one  ;  and  to  bring  mankind 
into  a  state  of  soul  so  that  forgiveness  would  be  a  blessing  was  the  task 
Jesus  set  before  him.  Salvation  was  possible  for  all  who  would  believe 
in  him.  That  belief  consisted  in  accepting  the  mercy  of  God  by  sub- 
mission of  will.  The  appeal  to  man  was  this  all-conquering  love,  and 
this  alone  could  give  the  true  motive  in  conversion. 

Jesus  as  the  servant  of  God,  working  to  this  end,  was  the  Messiah 
of  promise.  This  was  not  an  official  position,  but  first  of  all  an  oppor- 
tunity to  save.  The  joy  set  before  him  was  the  redemption  of  the 
world.  He  desired  no  higher  place  than  that  of  the  elder  brother  of 
the  household  of  faith.  He  sought  no  special  favor,  enjoyed  no  special 
privilege,  desired  relief  from  no  burden,  but  gladly  fulfilled  his  Gospel, 


22  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

that  whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  the  same  shall  find  it.  To  be  the 
Messiah  involved  loneliness,  misery,  want,  neglect,  ingratitude,  and 
death.  Even  this  he  welcomed  as  being  the  will  of  God.  He  never 
questioned,  as  did  ancient  prophets  :  Why  do  the  righteous  suffer  ? 
To  suffer  was  the  privilege,  the  opportunity,  of  those  who  would  serve 
God  and  man.  In  obedience  to  this  great  moral  law  he  bore  the 
rejection  of  man.  He  willingly  died  to  prove  his  doctrine  true.  This 
was  the  Messiah's  work. 

A  new  epoch  in  religion  was  thus  created.  The  true  King  of 
righteousness  laid  anew  the  foundation  of  the  Kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness. Prophet's  word  and  God's  commands  were  fulfilled  indeed. 
Because  of  this  service  to  man  he  has  become  man's  Lord.  He  has  vin- 
dicated his  claim  of  superior  power  by  his  revelation  of  the  way  to 
God,  the  truth  of  God,  and  the  life  in  God.  This  Kingdom  is  the  end 
for  which  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth  exist.  It  is  the  realm  of  holy- 
love  to  God  and  man.  Space  and  time  cannot  measure  its  boundaries. 
It  is  an  eternal  realm.  Here  the  world's  standards  are  reversed.  Judg- 
ments of  greatness,  glory,  and  success  in  the  Kingdom  are  made  in  the 
light  of  the  character  of  Him  whose  life  permeates  the  whole.  The 
despised  of  earth  is  exalted,  the  proud  is  brought  low. 

Thus  we  have  discovered  the  essence  of  Jesus'  religion.  It  consists, 
not  in  dogma  or  ceremonial  observances,  but  in  a  spirit  of  filial  and 
fraternal  love.  Here  is  its  source.  The  person  is  greater  far  than  his 
precept.  No  construction  of  human  thought  can  possibly  contain  the 
sum  total  of  this  revelation.  Its  height,  its  depth,  its  length,  its  breadth 
are  beyond  the  limitation  of  reason  to  explain.  We  may  gather  some- 
thing of  its  meaning  within  the  circle  of  our  own  experience  when  we 
believe  and  live  its  truth,  but  that  circle  is  but  a  fragmentary  portion 
of  the  infinite  compass  of  its  reality.  Our  systems  of  thought  reduce 
this  revelation  to  the  level  of  imperfect  reason.  Our  institutions  and 
organizations  for  the  betterment  of  man  can  but  embody  imperfectly 
the  motive  of  his  mission. 

He  who  thus  by  a  life  of  loving  sacrifice  disenthralled  mankind  from 
the  bondage  of  traditionalism,  idolatry,  and  sin,  lived  in  an  obscure 
corner  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  died  unnoticed  by  the  Emperor.  He 
was  put  to  death  in  the  very  beginning  of  his  career.  He  succeeded  dur- 
ing two  years  of  active  ministry  in  gathering  about  him  a  few  followers, 
most  of  whom  were  unlettered  men,  ignorant  of  the  great  world  which 
lay  beyond  the  borders  of  their  province.  They  had  been  brought 
under  the  transforming  power  of  a  divine  life,  and  the  result,  though 


'.'• 


RELIGION  OF  JESUS  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  PHILOSOPHY      23 

gradual,  was  at  length  seen  in  their  absolute  devotion  to  the  same 
mission  of  their  Master.  They  became  eloquent  in  proclaiming  the 
glad  tidings  of  salvation.  'Tis  true  they  were  most  grievously  dis- 
appointed at  his  death,  but  after  the  resurrection  to  them  he  was 
unquestionably  the  Messiah.  Tears  were  dried,  hopes  revived,  faith 
strengthened  in  the  living  Christ.  They  had  seen  the  very  heart  of  God 
in  the  life,  character,  and  work  of  their  Lord.  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God. 
Deity  was  revealed  as  a  loving  Saviour.  Religion  was  something  other 
than  a  perfunctory  service.  Duty  was  not  the  barren  product  of  pre- 
cept, but  was  a  vital  appreciation  of  a  worthy  example.  Destiny  was 
determined,  not  by  arbitrary  decree,  but  by  quality  of  soul  life  produced 
in  man  by  the  saving  principle  of  loving  obedience  to  the  will  of  the 
Father.  Such  was  the  religion  of  Jesus  in  the  lives  of  his  first 
followers. 

II.       THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF    THEOLOGY. 

Christianity  has  had  a  career  during  these  nineteen  centuries  in 
which  its  original  character  has  undergone  many  transformations. 
Could  it  have  been  otherwise  ?  We  must  never  forget  that  the  soil 
itself  in  which  this  new  life  took  root  furnished  in  part  the  conditions 
of  its  growth.  The  revelation  was  perfect,  viewing  it  from  the  stand- 
point of  him  who  gave  it.  There  was  nothing  wanting  in  his  life, 
nothing  in  his  words.  As  perfectly  as  a  life  conditioned  by  human 
limitations  could  express  it,  as  fully  as  human  language  could  formulate 
and  convey  divine  thought,  this  revelation  was  made.  Yet  we  may  find 
in  the  words  of  his  disciples  and  later  adherents  to  his  cause  evidences 
of  that  imperfection  to  which  human  beings  are  always  liable.  Condi- 
tions of  life,  mental  habit,  customs,  disposition,  political  and  social 
ideals,  old  forms  of  worship,  were  some  of  the  influences  which  shaped 
the  early  destiny  of  Christianity. 

The  point  of  supreme  interest  in  a  study  of  the  conditions  surround- 
ing the  early  Christians  is  the  development  of  theological  opinion. 
The  spiritual  inspiration  of  Jesus  and  his  religious  utterances  were  too 
lofty  and  profound  for  even  the  disciples  to  understand.  What  wonder, 
then,  that  those  less  fortunate,  those  who  never  came  into  immediate 
contact  with  him,  those  who,  like  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  were  born  in 
an  altogether  different  intellectual  atmosphere,  who  by  very  nature  and 
training  could  not  appreciate  the  difference  between  a  truth  for  reason 
and  a  truth  for  life,  that  they  should  in  taking  up  into  their  own  lives 
this  new  faith  not  only  be  transformed  by  it,  but  in  turn  should 


24  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

transform  the  form  at  least  of  that  religion  itself  ?  What  we  might 
expect  was  actually  done.1 

The  human  mind  is  not  capable  of  receiving  spiritual  truth  without 
relating  it  to  its  rational  comprehension.  Also  it  must  be  noted  that 
every  fact  to  be  communicated  must  be  put  into  the  form  of  rational 
ideas.  Likewise  the  apprehension  of  any  truth  is  made  by  means  of 
that  already  known.  And  as  another  reason  why  the  religion  of  Jesus 
was  taken  up  in  the  form  of  dogmatic  statement  it  must  be  remembered 
that  Christianity  was  very  soon  called  upon  to  make  a  defense  of  its 
claim  to  authority,  in  the  most  cultured  and  philosophical  centres  of 
the  world.  Thus  Christian  theology  was  necessitated  as  the  result  of 
man's  effort  to  explain  the  person  and  work  of  Jesus  the  Son  of  God. 

The  recasting  of  religion  into  dogmatics  was  not  made  without 
serious  loss  to  religion  itself.  When  scientific  explanation  became  the 
chief  centre  of  interest  in  the  thought  of  the  early  Christians,  the 
inspiration  of  the  Gospel  message  of  love  and  forgiveness  in  large 
measure  died  out.  When  religion  sought  a  reconciliation  with  phi- 
losophy, faith  was  made  a  victim  to  the  demands  of  reason,  and 
religious  dogma  was  the  result.  Of  course,  the  Church  Fathers  were 
men  of  mighty  intellectual  power.  Why,  then,  did  they  lack  the 
spiritual  potency  of  the  Apostles  ?  The  answer  may  be  truthfully 
made  that  it  was  not  that  they  were  less  qualified  to  possess  religious 
life,  nor  that  they  were  less  noble  by  nature,  but  because  they  found 
themselves  confronted  with  the  problem  of  relating  the  new  religion 
with  the  old  philosophy,  which  form  of  thought  was  not  capable  of 
expressing  the  deepest  significance  of  Christian  faith. 

With  the  loss  of  the  power  of  religion,  as  had  been  expressed  in 
the  lives  of  the  Apostles,  came  a  gain  in  giving  Christianity  currency 
among  the  educated  people  of  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  Rome,  and  north- 
ern Africa.  As  far  as  human  efforts  were  concerned,  this  first  period 
of  the  development  of  theology  practically  insured  the  triumph  of  the 
Christian  religion.  There  was  undoubtedly  a  providential  guiding  of 
this  movement,  but,  since  we  have  outgrown  the  conditions  of  life  and 
the  forms  of  thought  of  that  time,  it  would  be  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  we  had  also  outgrown  its  dogma. 

To  rationalize  the  religion  of  Jesus  has  been  the,  aim  of  the  noblest 
minds  in  the  Church.  The  facts  of  revelation,  the  experiences  of 

1 "  It  was  quite  impossible  to  avert  attempts  to  transform  this  religious  content, 
which  was  originally  apprehended  only  in  living  presentiment,  into  a  series  of  com- 
municable propositions."  —  Lotze,  Philosophy  of  Religion,  translated  by  Ladd,  p.  43. 


RELIGION  OF  JESUS  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  PHILOSOPHY     25 

faith,  the  process  of  salvation,  the  meaning  of  death,  and  the  instinct 
of  immortality  are  some  of  the  religious  data  which  challenge  observa- 
tion, classification,  and  explanation.  Faith,  which  is  the  medium  of 
revelation  and  the  condition  of  spiritual  illumination,  leads  to  knowl- 
edge as  the  deeper  experiences  of  the  soul  are  reflected  into  the 
mental  categories,  and  as  the  attitudes  of  will  become  concrete  events 
in  time  and  space.  It  is  the  very  nature  of  religion  to  embody  itself 
in  finite  forms.  While  primarily  it  belongs  to  the  life  eternal,  and,  in 
fact,  refuses  to  exhaust  itself  in  temporal  conditions,  nevertheless  its 
objectification  in  human  thought  and  conduct  makes  possible  the 
definition  of  its  meaning.  Religion  exists  for  life,  but  in  producing 
life  it  expresses  its  essence,  in  part  at  least,  in  creed  and  church 
organization.  To  bring  the  phenomena  of  religion  into  the  form  of 
rational  comprehension  has  been  the  task  of  theologians. 

From  this  it  is  evident  that  Christian  dogma  is  the  result  of  two 
distinct  factors,  the  one  material  and  the  other  formal.  The  religion 
of  Jesus,  considered  as  his  own  attitude  of  will  toward  God,  and  all 
that  wealth  of  spirit  with  which  he  blessed  the  world,  constituted  the 
former;  the  habit  of  mind,  the  accepted  philosophy,  the  method  of 
reasoning  of  the  theologians,  constituted  the  latter.  As  dogma  is  an 
objective  construction  of  religion,  both  the  material  and  formal  factors 
were  necessary.  It  needs  to  be  said,  however,  that  philosophy  is  not 
mere  form  of  thought,  but  has  its  own  content  as  well,  indeed  cannot 
be  separated  from  its  content.  What  more  natural  than  to  suppose, 
if  the  religion  of  Jesus  was  to  undergo  scientific  formulation  in  the 
hands  of  Christian  philosophers,  there  would  be  grave  danger  of 
unconscious  incorporation  of  a  truth  that  was  not  distinctly  religious, 
nay,  that  in  its  expression  was  somewhat  untrue  to  the  spirit  of  revela- 
tion ?  It  is  not  an  easy  task  to  co-ordinate  religion  with  logic.  As  we 
trace  the  development  of  thought  in  the  Church,  noting  the  contro- 
versies of  giant  minds,  Christians  all  in  heart  experience,  standing 
at  the  very  opposite  poles  in  logical  interpretation  of  that  experience, 
as  we  look  into  our  own  minds  and  see  the  inner  conflict  of  reason 
and  faith,  we  can  better  appreciate  the  difficulties  of  theology,  and 
can  more  willingly  assume  the  attitude  of  charity,  and  even  gratitude, 
toward  those  who  have  not  succeeded  in  establishing  dogma  as  a 
finality. 

The  origin  of  Christian  theology  is  thus  seen  to  have  resulted  from 
the  conditions  of  life  and  thought  which  prevailed  in  the  centres 
where  Christianity  was  first  planted..  The  historical  development  of 


26  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

dogma  has  ever  been  in  obedience  to  the  law  of  its  origin.  Every 
theologian  has  brought  to  his  task  the  philosophy  to  which  he  was 
devoted.  Whether  it  is  the  traditional  theology  of  Augustine  and 
Calvin,  or  the  more  modern  forms  of  religious  thought  in  what  is 
known  as  "new  theology,"  it  all  has  been  the  result  of  attempts  to 
rationalize  or  bring  into  logical  sequence  the  facts  of  Christian  belief. 
Philosophy,  realistic  or  idealistic,  dualistic  or  monistic,  pantheistic  or 
theistic,  has  ever  and  will  ever  give  theology  its  form.  If  in  the  past 
the  religion  of  Jesus  has  been  differently  interpreted,  according  to  the 
philosophical  standpoints  of  the  various  theologians,  so  we  may  expect 
a  difference  in  theological  systems  as  long  as  these  different  phi- 
losophies exist.  Theology  cannot  be  final  until  philosophy  is.1 

It  is  necessary  at  this  point  to  define  more  fully  the  scientific  labors 
of  those  who  have  fashioned  for  us  our  accepted  forms  of  Christian 
doctrine. 

As  a  science  theology  seeks  to  gather,  arrange,  classify,  correlate, 
and  interpret  the  data  which  are  furnished  in  religious  experience.  It 
is  a  science  of  religion  which  explains  the  processes  of  spirit  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  nature  of  God.  Science  is  the  experience  of  man 
organized  in  thought.  In  the  claim  of  theology  that  it  is  a  science  of 
religion  it  professes  to  be  the  exhibition  of  religious  facts  in  their 
innermost  nature  and  causal  connection.  The  range  of  observation  in 
the  preliminary  work  of  classification  may  to  the  physicist  seem  too 
broad.  He  may  say  the  same  of  biology.  Every  science  is,  in  a  sense, 
arbitrary.  Its  field  is  of  its  own  choosing,  and  the  conclusions  are 
conclusions  of  knowledge.  What  reality  is  beyond  the  range  of 
thought,  science  never  attempts  to  explain.  So  theology  is  a  science, 
is  the  body  of  knowledge  resulting  from  scientific  analysis  of  religious 
experience.  It  seeks  to  explain  the  universal  impulses  of  the  heart 
toward  God,  the  aspirations  and  desires  of  the  ethical  and  social 

1  Speaking  of  the  rise  and  development  of  Christian  dogma,  the  late  Mr.  Hatch, 
in  the  Hibbert  Lectures,  1888,  p.  330,  said  :  "  It  began  by  being  (i)  a  simple  trust  in 
God;  then  followed  (2)  a  simple  expansion  of  that  truth  into  the  assent  of  the  proposi- 
tion that  God  is  good,  and  (3)  a  simple  acceptance  of  the  proposition  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  His  Son ;  then  (4)  came  in  the  definition  of  terms,  and  each  definition  of 
terms  involved  a  new  theory ;  finally  (5)  the  theories  were  gathered  together  into 
systems,  and  the  martyrs  and  witnesses  of  Christ  died  for  their  faith,  not  outside,  but 
inside,  the  Christian  sphere  ;  and  instead  of  a  world  of  Christian  belief  which 
resembled  the  world  of  actual  fact  in  the  sublime  unsymmetry  of  its  foliage,  and  the 
deep  harmony  of  its  discords,  there  prevailed  the  most  fatal  assumption  of  all,  that  the 
symmetry  of  a  system  is  the  test  of  its  truth  and  a  proof  thereof." 


RELIGION  OF  JESUS  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  PHILOSOPHY     2^ 

nature  of  man,  the  mysterious  depths  of  feeling,  the  sense  of  sin  and 
guilt,  the  call  to  duty,  the  desire  for  the  good,  the  true,  and  the  beau- 
tiful. Here,  as  in  natural  science,  the  function  of  an  hypothesis  is 
manifest.  Hypotheses  are  first  held  in  the  mind  for  testing  facts,  and 
in  turn  being  tested  by  them.  Success  in  theology,  as  in  all  science, 
depends  on  the  range  of  observation  and  the  nature  of  the  ruling 
hypothesis  which  explains  the  phenomena. 

The  ruling  conception  in  theology  is  the  idea  of  God.  Philosophy 
ends  with  a  discovery  of  the  Absolute,  but  with  a  definite  knowledge 
of  the  nature  of  Deity  theology  begins.  It  is  the  formative  idea 
throughout  the  whole  process  of  religious  thought.  Theologies  differ 
not  so  much  in  recognition  of  religious  phenomena  as  in  conceiving 
the  character  of  God.  So  true  is  this  that  any  theological  system  may 
be  tested  at  this  point  as  at  no  other.  It  is  always  the  major  premise 
of  the  theological  syllogism.  A  misconception  here  renders  the  whole 
argument  invalid. 

Christian  theology  is  distinguished  from  the  theology  of  any  other 
religion  by  the  fact  that  Jesus  is  the  means  by  which  the  true  concep- 
tion of  God  is  revealed  to  man.  It  is  axiomatic  to  the  Christian  that 
Jesus  is  the  adequate  revelation  of  Deity.  He  opens  the  door  into  the 
world  beyond  human  speculation,  and  in  his  own  life  gives  mankind  a 
vision  of  the  Eternal.  This  claim,  that  the  idea  of  God  discoverable 
in  the  consciousness  of  Jesus  is  absolute  truth,  rests  on  the  fact,  attested 
by  all  who  have  come  into  close  relationship  with  him,  that  here  is  the 
hypothesis  which  interprets  all  religious  experience  of  whatsoever  sort. 
The  claim  is  that  Jesus  has  realized  in  himself  the  idea  of  God  which 
will  explain  the  religious  impulse  of  the  race,  awaken  in  the  individual 
the  most  profound  love  and  worship,  lead  him  forth  to  noblest  moral 
achievement,  explain  the  movements  of  history,  reveal  the  end  toward 
which  the  universe  moves,  correlate  into  one  harmonious  system  of 
thought  the  hopes,  the  pains,  the  joys  of  the  human  heart,  and  fur- 
nish man  with  the  help  which  he  needs  to  accomplish  his  worthy 
destiny.1 

1 "  Of  anything  more  perfect  than  the  meek  yet  majestic  Jesus  no  heart  can  ever 
dream.  And  accordingly  ever  since  he  visited  our  earth  with  blessing  the  soul  of 
Christendom  has  worshipped  a  God  resembling  him,  a  God  of  whom  he  was  the  image 
and  impersonation,  and  therefore  not  the  God  of  which  philosophy  dreams.  .  .  .  , 
but  the  Infinite  Spirit  so  holy,  so  affectionate,  who  passes  no  wounds  of  sorrow  by, 
who  stills  the  winds  and  waves  of  terror  to  the  perishing  who  call  unto  him  in  faith, 
who  stops  the  processes  of  our  grief  and  bids  bereaved  affection  weep  no  more,  but 
wait  upon  the  will  that  even  the  dead  obey." — Martineau,  Studies  in  Christianity,  p.  194. 


28  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

The  chief  reason  why  theology  has  had  such  a  course  of  develop- 
ment as  the  history  of  the  Church  reveals  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  fun- 
damental idea  of  God  has  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  been  drawn  from 
current  philosophy  rather  than  from  the  consciousness  of  Jesus.  The- 
ologies of  the  past  are  not  so  untrue  in  logical  procedure  as  they  are 
in  presuppositions  covering  the  nature  of  God.  From  the  days  of  the 
Church  Fathers  until  now,  philosophical  conceptions  of  the  Absolute 
have  in  a  measure  taken  the  place  of  Jesus'  idea  of  God.  But  there 
has  been  a  progress  in  philosophy  from  the  transcendent  idealism  of 
the  Neo-Platonists  to  the  modern  conception  of  divine  immanence, 
and  corresponding  to  this  has  been  a  progress  in  theology,  especially 
as  in  later  days  the  significance  of  the  historical  Christ  has  been  more 
fully  realized. 

Yes,  we  have  been  slow  to  grasp  the  idea  of  God  which  governed 
the  life  of  the  Son  of  Man.  No  Church,  no  creed,  no  system  of 
theology  has  yet  exhausted  that  conception.  He  who  has  unfolded 
his  matchless  personality  in  the  successive  epochs  of  history,  he  who 
has  furnished  inspiration  to  countless  thousands  amid  struggle,  defeat, 
despair,  and  conquest,  still  says  to  man :  "I  have  many  things  to  say 
to  you,  but  you  cannot  bear  them  now."  The  Church  is  yet  in  its 
infancy.  The  last  word  in  Christian  thought  has  not  yet  been  said. 
The  standards  of  opinion  are  being  modified.  The  progress  of  science 
is  effecting  modifications  in  religion.  New  light  is  breaking  upon 
civilization.  New  and  higher  points  of  view  are  being  granted  think- 
ing men.  Jesus  as  an  historical  character  is  better  known  to  us  than 
to  any  age  that  has  preceded  this.  The  significance  of  the  Gospel  is 
more  deeply  felt  than  ever  before.  All  this  points  to  the  fact  that  we 
are  yet  to  more  fully  understand  what  Jesus  meant  when  he  called 
God  "Father,"  and  gave  his  life  to  prove  the  reality  of  his  conception. 

This,  then,  is  the  condition  of  progress  in  theology.  We  acknowl- 
edge the  intimate  relation  between  philosophy  and  theology,  but  phi- 
losophy can  never  give  by  means  of  speculation  a  conception  of  God 
which  will  be  adequate  for  religious  needs.  Philosophy  will  aid  in 
opening  the  wide  realm  of  observation  in  which  religious  data  are 
discovered,  and,  more,  it  will  materially  affect  the  lens  of  observation 
itself.  Philosophy  will,  in  addition  to  all  this,  assist  in  gathering  cor- 
rect facts  in  connection  with  the  life  of  Jesus.  It  will  also,  aided  by 
the  Spirit,  gradually  open  to  human  view  the  deeper  meaning  of  the 
Scripture.  Facts  of  history  will  be  separated  from  facts  of  fancy,  and 
real  events  will  be  scientifically  correlated  into  genuine  biography. 


RELIGION  OF  JESUS  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  PHILOSOPHY      29 

Even  so,  nothing  that  human  thought  can  devise  or  human  reason 
construct  will  supersede  or  in  any  way  take  the  place  of  the  revelation 
made  in  that  inexhaustible  fountain  of  spiritual  light  and  life,  the 
consciousness  of  the  Son  of  Man.  The  greatest  discoveries  for 
theology  are  to  be  made  in  the  realm  of  religion. 

The  idea  of  God  has  been  and  is  to  be  the  regulative  conception  in 
theology.  To  understand  the  present  theological  systems  we  need  to 
examine  their  origin  and  trace  their  development ;  to  estimate  their 
worth  we  must  form  from  an  inductive  study  of  Jesus'  life  a  norm  of 
criticism,  and  in  the  light  of  such  a  standard  test  this  science.  The 
purpose  of  the  succeeding  chapters  is  to  sketch  in  outline  the  different 
conceptions  of  God  which  have  dominated  the  theologians  of  the  past, 
and  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  more  constructive  work  in  theological 
science. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  GREEK  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY. 

The  early  Church  was  organized  in  a  time  of  philosophical  specu- 
lation and  controversy.  It  is  therefore  not  surprising  to  find  the 
leaders  of  this  new  movement  engaged  in  attempts  to  make  good  the 
claim  of  Christianity  to  be  a  final  system  of  belief.  To  effectually 
transplant  this  new  faith  in  the  sceptical  centres  of  Grecian  and  Roman 
life,  and  for  converts  to  maintain  the  grounds  of  their  religious  expe- 
rience by  a  defense  based  on  thoroughgoing  logic,  was  a  task  not 
easily  accomplished.  But  this  very  condition  proved  to  be  the  occa- 
sion for  the  rise  of  Christian  theology.  The  age  of  apology  was  the 
birth-time  of  dogma. 

This  crisis  in  the  development  of  Christianity  was  providential. 
The  spirit  of  rational  inquiry  had  exhausted  itself  in  a  vain  attempt  to 
analyze  the  ground  of  things.  Metaphysics  as  a  field  for  thought 
could  be  maintained  only  by  fertilizing  it  with  the  specific  content  of 
revelation.  Greek  thought  had  passed  out  of  the  realm  of  phenomena 
to  that  of  the  Absolute.  But  the  Absolute  was  so  void  of  meaning,  such 
an  empty  abstraction,  that  academic  and  sensational  scepticism  soon 
proved  that  such  a  conception  had  no  value  for  life,  and  must  there- 
fore be  abandoned.  The  Christian  idea  of  God,  who  is  a  being  of 
supremest  ethical  motive,  an  idea  so  vital  as  to  give  evidence  of  its 
reality  in  the  transformed  lives  of  those  who  come  under  its  power,  was 
the  salvation  of  metaphysics.  By  this  revelation  the  Absolute  was 


3°  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

clothed  in  a  living  light,  and  the  world  was  given  a  new  significance. 
Henceforth  philosophy  must  interpret  religion,  and  religion  must  give 
philosophy  its  aim. 

It  could  not  be  expected  that  the  new  metaphysics  would  be  alto- 
gether free  from  assumptions  somewhat  untrue  to  the  spirit  of  revela- 
tion. The  old  habit  of  speculation  carried  with  it  many  of  the  old  ideas. 
Ethical  values,  which  revelation  emphasized,  must  be  categorized  into 
concepts  of  being  and  power.  This  process  gave  the  Christian  religion 
a  career  in  thought,  the  development  of  doctrine  and  creed,  in  which 
may  be  traced  the  clear  evidence  of  philosophical  presuppositions. 
Greek,  Latin,  Scholastic,  and  modern  ideas  of  God,  these  formative 
conceptions  which  differentiate  dogma  into  periods  and  schools,  are 
derived  from  philosophy  itself,  in  great  measure  independent  of  reve- 
lation. If  the  fact  is  admitted,  does  it  follow  that  the  whole  movement 
has  been  futile  ?  To  those  who  demand  a  form  of  thought  which  shall 
be  final  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  faith  the  history  of  theology  must 
be  most  disappointing.  The  impatience  of  such  minds  is  a  serious  hin 
drance  to  genuine  progress.  To  those  who  look  for  clearer  statements 
in  dogma,  and  believe  that  eventually  philosophical  error  will  be  out- 
lived, the  past  is  not  futile,  even  though  it  gives  but  imperfect  formu- 
lations of  truth.  The  promise  of  a  better  day  is  read  in  the  faithful 
endeavors  of  philosophy  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  reason.  He  who 
can  afford  to  wait,  and  at  the  same  time  has  courage  to  labor  on,  will 
see  at  length  the  bright  shining  of  the  truth,  in  which  the  meaning  of 
religion  shall  be  perfectly  revealed. 

After  the  Macedonian  conquest  the  intellectual  life  of  Greece  was 
centred  in  Alexandria.  Here  also  Judaism  found  a  home  and  a  wide 
circle  of  influence.  As  the  East  and  the  West  were  thus  brought  face  to 
face,  revelation  and  science  met  on  common  ground  and  commingled. 
In  this  way  a  preparation  was  made  for  the  philosophical  interpretation 
of  the  Christian  revelation.  Philo,  the  greatest  of  Jewish  philosophers, 
was  the  first  to  make  a  scientific  formulation  of  the  truth  of  Jewish 
revelation  and  Greek  thought.  He  failed  to  satisfactorily  adjust  the 
two  because  of  his  idealism  and  allegory.  Neo-Platonism  was  no  better. 
In  this  system  God  and  the  world  were  hopelessly  separated.  But  when 
Christianity,  in  the  person  of  Pantenaeus,  made  a  philosophical  state- 
ment of  the  truth  which  answers  the  question,  "What  shall  I  do  to  be 
saved  ? "  men  of  acute  learning  were  ready  to  accept  the  new  belief. 
Here,  then,  in  the  second  and  third  centuries,  where  Grecian  art  and 
science  flourished,  the  converts  to  Christianity  sought  to  reconcile 


GREEK  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY 

existing  culture  with  faith,  and  to  permeate  the  religion  of  Jesus  with 
the  best  literary  and  scientific  spirit.  In  the  so-called  Catechetical 
school  of  Alexandria,  by  the  side  of  the  best  university  of  the  time, 
the  theology  of  the  Christian  religion  was  born.1 

I.       CLEMENT. 

(150-217.) 

Clement  of  Alexandria  has  justly  been  called  the  father  of  Greek 
theology.2  According  to  the  best  evidence  obtainable  he  was  born  in 
Athens  in  150  A.  D.,  and  was  educated  under  Hellenic  teachers.  To 
the  work  of  making  a  scientific  statement  of  Christian  truth  he  brought 
the  culture  and  knowledge  which  his  Greek  training  had  given  him. 
Educated  among  the  prevailing  tendencies  of  philosophical  eclecticism, 
he  naturally  imbibed  something  from  the  Stoic,  Platonic,  and  Philonic 
philosophies,  and  as  well  owed  something  to  the  influence  of  Gnosti- 
cism. 

Perhaps  this  fact  of  Grecian  culture  is  responsible  for  the  broad 
view  which  he  held  of  revelation.  Pre-Christian  conceptions  of  God 
were  to  him  partial  truths.  In  this  he  agreed  with  Justin  Martyr,  who 
was  most  emphatic  in  affirming  that  Greek  philosophy  was  a  part  of 
God's  revelation.  Clement  held  to  the  view  that  revelation  was  funda- 
mentally an  illumination  of  soul  which  enables  the  individual  to 
see  the  truth.  God,  who  had  given  a  covenant  to  the  Israelites  and 
a  new  covenant  to  the  Apostles  through  Jesus,  was  also  the  giver  of 
Greek  philosophy  to  the  Greeks  which  to  them  was  a  means  of  right- 
eousness.3 

The  theology  of  Clement  is  worked  out  from  the  standpoint  of 
divine  immanence.  The  current  philosophy  of  his  day  emphasized  in 
the  extreme  God's  transcendence.  So  far  was  the  Infinite  removed 
from  the  affairs  of  the  world  that  practically  man  is  lost,  hopelessly 
lost.  None  of  the  early  Christian  philosophers  questioned  the  fact  of 
man's  estrangement  from  the  Father,  but  to  Clement's  credit  be  it 
said  he  rescued  human  thought  from  this  gulf  of  despair  by  making 

*"It  was  the  birthplace  of  Christian  theology  in  the  proper  sense,  as  it  sprang 
from  the  inward  impulse  of  the  mind  thirsting  after  scientific  knowledge,  and  partly 
from  an  outwardly  directed  apologetic  interest  to  defend  the  doctrines  of  the  Church 
against  philosophically  educated  Greeks  and  against  Gnostics." — Neander. 

2  Bishop  Kaye,  Clement  of  Alexandria. 

3  See  Strom,,  Bk.  6:5,  8.     "Hellenic  philosophy  has    torn   off  a  fragment  of 
eternal  truth,"  1:13. 


3  2  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

clear  the  idea  that  this  separation  is  ethical  in  its  nature,  and  that  God 
is  immediately  related  to  man  by  His  immanent  spirit,  that  man  is 
endowed  with  spiritual  parts  akin  to  the  divine,  that  human  life  is  an 
education  under  the  instruction  of  God,  that  the  Father  by  the  Son  is 
reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself. 

As  to  the  general  idea  common  among  Neo-Platonists  that  God  is 
unapproachable,  being  infinite  in  nature,  Clement  accepted  it  in  part, 
but  offset  this  ancient  agnosticism  by  making  clear  the  truth  that  He  is 
knowable  through  the  Son.  In  the  Son  God  declares  Himself.1  The 
Logos  is  the  speaking  and  the  spoken  word.  He  comes  to  every  man. 
He  is  in  everything.  Through  the  Logos,  the  Son,  the  finite  mind  may 
apprehend  God. 

So  emphatic  are  the  statements  made  by  Clement  in  regard  to  the 
indwelling  of  the  Deity  through  the  Son  that  the  fact  of  distinctions 
in  the  Trinity,  so  important  to  later  theologians,  is  in  his  thought 
somewhat  obscured.  The  question  of  equality  between  the  Son  and 
the  Father  gave  rise  later  to  the  two  schools  of  thought,  the  Arian  and 
the  Athanasian.  It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  in  Clement's  own  mind 
both  phases  of  truth  were  unified.  The  Father  is  not  without  the  Son, 
the  Son  is  not  without  the  Father.  The  Son  as  the  spoken  word  of 
the  Father  is  also  the  speaking  voice  in  the  world. 

Out  of  this  fundamental  idea  of  God's  immanence  grows  naturally 
the  specific  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation.  God  who  is  wisdom  and 
love,  ever  active  in  the  world,  having  made  man  in  His  image,  reveals 
Himself  through  man,  who  ideally  is  a  lively  and  congenial  organ  for 
His  self-expression.  Jesus  is  the  normal  man,  the  centre  of  humanity. 
The  Logos  and  Jesus  of  Nazareth  are  one.  His  historical  career  was 
a  mode  of  his  life.  He  had  been  in  the  world  from  the  beginning,  as 
the  inspiration  of  all  good.  All  spiritual  life,  whether  in  Jew,  Greek, 
or  heathen,  owed  its  existence  to  him.2  In  the  fulness  of  time  he 
appeared,  and  intensified  his  own  work  of  salvation.  Mankind  are  not 
foreigners,  but  kinsmen  to  him.  He  came  to  his  own.  The  work  of 
the  Incarnation  was  historical  in  fact,  but  was  eternal  in  idea. 

To  sum  up,  then,  Clement's  contribution  to  the  theology  of  the 
Church,  we  note  four  dominant  conceptions,  namely,  the  fundamental 
idea  of  divine  immanence,  the  doctrine  of  universal  revelation,  the 

1  See  Strom.,  5  : 3 ;  7:1;  Peed,,  1:7.  The  Father  is  the  Creator,  the  Son  is  the 
ideal  world ;  the  Son  is  the  Logos  who  enlightens  man,  and  the  Son  schematizes  the 
essence  of  Deity. 

2See  Peed.,  i:6;  3:1. 


GREEK  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY  33 

native  sonship  of  man,  the  historical  coming  of  the  Son  into  the  world. 
In  this  masterly  presentation  of  religious  truth  are  the  unmistakable 
evidences  of  the  Gospel  revelation.  Clement  lived  so  close  to  the 
fountain  of  inspiration  in  his  personal  experience  that  his  work  is  a 
lasting  memorial  of  a  great  heart  controlled  and  directed  by  a  great 
mind.  His  idea  of  God  was  undoubtedly  inspired  by  Jesus'  concep- 
tion of  the  Father. 

II.       ORIGEN. 

(185-253.) 

In  a  true  sense  the  work  of  Clement  was  preparatory.  It  remained 
for  Origen,  his  pupil  and  successor  in  the  school  of  Alexandria,  to  com- 
plete more  scientifically  what  he  had  begun.'  Origen  has  the  honor  of 
being  the  first  theologian  to  work  out  a  full,  systematic  treatise,  begin- 
ning with  the  idea  of  God  and  covering  the  whole  realm  of  the  creeds 
of  a  later  day.1 

The  whole  system  thus  wrought  out  is  permeated  with  Neo-Platonic 
thought.  With  him,  however,  instead  of  conceiving  spirit  and  matter, 
God  and  the  world,  as  hopelessly  separated,  he  posited  an  ideal  dualism 
of  God  and  fallen  spirits,  the  antagonism  of  the  infinite  and  finite 
will.  He  went  so  far  as  to  docetize  the  material  world,  and  spoke  of 
its  reality  as  though  it  consisted  in  a  spiritual  functioning  rather  than 
in  its  objective  existence,  as  such.  The  real  world  is  a  world  of  spirit, 
and  is  eternal.  God  begets  the  eternal  Son,  the  Logos,  as  the  sum 
total  of  his  world  thoughts  (iSe'a  tSeun/),  and  through  him  creates  the 

1  Redepenning,  as  quoted  in  Ueberweg's  History  of  Philosophy,  p.  316,  furnishes 
the  following  outline  of  Origen's  theology  :  "  At  the  commencement  is  placed  the  doc- 
trine of  God,  the  eternal  source  of  all  existence,  as  point  of  departure  for  an  exposition 
in  which  the  knowledge  of  the  essence  of  God,  and  of  the  unfolding  of  that  essence, 
leads  us  to  the  eternal  in  the  world,  namely,  the  created  spirits  whose  fall  first  occa- 
sioned the  creation  of  the  coarser  material  world.  In  the  second  book  we  set  foot  on 
earth  as  it  now  is.  We  see  it  arising  out  of  ante-mundane,  though  not  absolutely  eternal 
matter  in  time,  in  which  it  is  to  lead  its  changing  existence  until  the  restoration  of  the 
fallen  spirits.  Into  the  world  comes  the  Son  of  God,  sent  by  the  God  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, who  is  no  other  than  the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  hear  of  the  incarna- 
tion of  the  Son,  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  he  goes  forth  from  the  Son  to  enter  into  the 
hearts  of  men,  of  the  psychical  in  man  in  distinction  from  the  purely  spiritual,  of  the 
purification  and  restoration  of  the  psychical  in  him  by  judgment  and  punishment,  and 
of  eternal  salvation.  .  .  .  The  freedom  and  the  process  by  which  man  becomes  free  are 
described  in  the  third  book.  The  fourth  book  is  distinct  from  the  rest,  and  inde- 
pendent as  containing  the  doctrine  in  which  that  of  the  preceding  book  rests,  namely, 
the  revelation  made  in  Holy  Scripture."  For  the  doctrine  of  God  as  determining  Ori- 
gen's thought  seefoann.,  T.  10  :  178. 


34  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

free  spirits  which  surround  His  throne.  Those  who  remain  obedient 
are  forever  blessed.  Those  who  disobey  are  cast  down  into  the  world 
of  matter  created  for  the  purpose  of  giving  such  beings  a  career  of 
discipline.  The  reality  of  all  bodies  is  the  ever-changing  idea  within 
them.  The  soul  exists  eternally. 

Origen's  conception  of  God  as  Spirit  is  professedly  drawn  from  the 
words  of  Jesus,  "  God  is  spirit,"  and  the  declaration  of  the  author  of 
the  Fourth  Gospel,  "  God  is  light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all."1 
He  is  the  fountain  of  all  reality,  infinite  mind,  streaming  forth  as 
the  light  of  intelligence,  indivisible,  in  whom  there  is  no  greater,  no 
less,  omnipotent,  omniscient,  omnipresent,  the  abiding,  changeless 
ground  of  all  reality.*  Human  language  is  too  limited  to  express  His 
greatness.  He  is  incomprehensible  (incestimabilis)  in  the  grandeur  of 
His  character,  yet  He  is  known  to  be  long-suffering,  merciful,  and 
loving.3 

God  is  not  alone  in  the  majesty  of  His  eternal  habitation.  The 
Logos,  the  only  begotten,  the  Wisdom  of  the  Scripture,  the  one  whom 
Paul  declares  to  be  the  power  of  God,  he  is  the  Son  by  whom  the  worlds 
were  made  and  are  upheld.  This  is  Jesus,  born  among  men  for  the 
salvation  of  man.  He  in  his  eternal  reality  is  an  hypostasis  of  God- 
head. This  is  not  an  event  in  time,  for  God  is  eternally  Father-Son. 
The  will  of  God  the  Father  is  the  will  of  the  Son,  and  they  in  essence 
are  one.*  Even  so,  there  is  a  distinction  of  persons  in  God,  0eos  and 
6  0cos.  The  Father  is  the  only  source  of  being,  avro-0eos,  6  /xeyio-ros  cm 
Tras  0cos.s  To  the  Father  humanity  lifts  up  its  voice  in  prayer ;  the  Son 
is  subordinate  in  all  things. 

Is  the  Logos  a  creature  if  thus  subordinated  to  the  Father  ?  In  the 
finite  world,  where  space  relations  control  existence,  division  always 
results  in  lessening  the  thing  divided.  Not  so  in  the  realm  of  spirit. 
When  a  teacher  has  imparted  instruction,  his  own  knowledge  is  not 
thereby  diminished.  It  is  likewise  with  goodness,  love,  and  wisdom ; 
to  impart  them  is  to  retain  them,  and  to  receive  them  is  to  receive 
them  in  full  possession.  God,  being  by  nature  spirit,  could  also  dupli- 
cate Himself  without  suffering  any  division  or  lessening.  In  the  Son 
appears  the  fulness  of  God,  but  the  Father  is  alone  the  source  of 
being.  While  the  communicable  attributes,  namely,  His  spiritual  per- 
fections, are  in  the  Son.  absoluteness  belongs  to  the  Father. 

'See  De  Prin.,  I  :  I. 

a  This  highly  speculative  idea  of  God  is  set  forth  in  De  Prin,,  I  :  2. 

s  See  Horn.,  6:6.  *  De  Prin.,  I  :  2  seq.  5  Cetsus,  8:14. 


GREEK  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY  35 

From  this  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  God  both  Arians  and  their 
opponents,  as  also  from  the  doctrine  of  Clement,  derived  authority  for 
their  contradictory  systems  of  thought.  Even  if,  as  Origen  says,  the 
Logos  is  eternally  begotten  of  God,  he  is  none  the  less  a  creature.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  is  a  person  original  in  God-head,  this  person  is 
only  an  activity  of  God.  Around  this  somewhat  confused  part  of 
Origen's  doctrine  waged  the  controversy  in  which  the  conception  of  the 
Trinity  was  clearly  defined  for  theological  science.  The  question  thus 
involved  was  the  battle-ground  in  theological  dispute  for  many  years 
Nor  was  it  a  trivial  question.  Jesus  made  claims  to  a  unique  relation 
to  the  Father.  He  was  the  essence  of  Deity  made  real  to  man  for 
his  salvation.  He  had  accomplished  the  salvation  of  men.  Who  is  he  ? 
Is  he  a  begotten  or  created  being  ?  Is  he  a  manifestation  of  Deity  ? 
Is  he  an  orginal  part  of  the  God-head  ?  In  answering  these  questions 
the  person  of  Jesus  was  lifted  out  of  its  historical  connections  into 
the  realm  of  metaphysics.  The  victorious  party  in  this  controversy 
gave  orthodoxy  its  final  stamp. 

III.       ATHANASIUS. 

(296-373.) 

An  age  of  conflict,  doubt,  and  inquiry,  an  age  of  councils  and 
primitive  creeds,  gave  birth  to  staunch  defenders  of  the  truth.  The 
crisis  in  which  Christian  thought  was  being  fashioned  was  the  occasion 
for  the  rise  into  prominence  of  the  Alexandrian  deacon,  Athanasius, 
one,  if  not  the  chief,  of  those  who  sought  to  keep  the  doctrine  of  God 
true  to  the  revelation  made  in  Jesus.  He,  too,  was  a  Greek  by  birth 
and  education.  Possessing  keen  philosophical  insight,  capacity  for 
prolonged  and  profound  reflection,  coupled  with  masterly  ability  in 
commanding  his  mental  resources,  he  was  fitted  to  champion  the  cause 
of  Christianity  in  this  perilous  hour. 

As  already  stated,  the  critical  question  was  the  doctrine  of  God.  Is 
He  the  abstract  Deity  incapable  of  movement  within  Himself,  the 
absolute  and  eternal  Being,  transcendent  unity,  or  is  He  a  God  of 
living,  active  love,  and  will,  who  changes  not  in  essence,  but  suffers 
within  Himself  eternal  distinctions  of  person  ?  The  former  position 
was  championed  by  Arius,  the  latter  by  Athanasius. 

The  view  of  Arius  in  regard  to  the  Son  of  God  is  very  explicit, 
lacking  the  vagueness  so  characteristic  of  Origen  and  Clement.  When 
God  would  create  a  world,  He  first  creates  a  Son,  who  is  His  perfect 
work.1  By  this  act  the  only  begotten  is  made  a  being  arpeirov  Kal 

1  Epistle  to  Alexander. 


36  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 


His  position  among  creatures  is  thus  unique.  He  is 
neither  God  nor  man.  The  Son  is  the  nexus  of  the  divine  and  human. 

The  teaching  of  Athanasius  was  in  direct  opposition  to  this  view. 
His  chief  works,  Adyos  Kara  EAA^i/on/and  irf.pl  rrjs  tvavOpayjrrjcrea)?  rov  \6yov, 
were  not,  however,  written  to  oppose  Arius.1  To  him  God  was  the 
maker  of  the  universe,  although  He  needs  nothing  but  Himself  for 
His  completeness.  He  is  incorporeal,  invisible  save  to  the  eye  of 
spirit.  He  is  immanent  in  the  universe,  sustaining  the  world  by  His 
power,  and  constituting  it  by  harmonious  law.  Creation,  Providence, 
and  Redemption,  all  reveal  His  love.  His  name  is  Father-Son-Holy 
Spirit. 

Man  was  created  in  the  image  of  the  Son,  which  proves  the  ground 
for  the  special  interest  which  Deity  takes  in  the  race.  Being  thus 
organically  related  to  the  world  as  its  essential  law  and  life,  he,  with- 
out any  change  in  himself,  may  come  into  the  world  by  any  special 
acts  of  incarnation.  For  the  purpose  of  restoring  the  image  which 
naturally  belongs  to  man,  and  which  he  lost  by  sin,  he,  the  Son,  takes 
upon  himself  the  condition  of  earthly  human  existence.  He  could 
re-create,  because  he  created.  The  Word  became  flesh,  and  the  power 
of  sin  was  destroyed.  Death  now  is  the  transition  into  a  better  con- 
dition of  life.2 

It  is  this  soteriological  idea  which  chiefly  engages  attention  in 
reviewing  the  doctrine  of  Athanasius.  He  was  especially  emphatic  in 
setting  forth  the  conception  of  God,  not  in  His  being,  as  such,  but  the 
being  of  God  in  relation  to  man,  as  furnishing  the  ground  of  salvation 
through  Christ.  He  seemed  to  strike  at  the  very  centre  of  revelation, 
and  to  this  and  from  this  his  thought  constantly  moved.  This  prac- 
tical theology  is  summed  up  in  the  word  —  salvation.  In  thus  work- 
ing out  the  problem  of  God's  activity  in  saving  mankind  he  also  clearly 
defined  for  the  Church  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  which  became 
eventually  the  accepted  view. 

Thus  Greek  thought  in  the  Alexandrian  Church  was  governed  by 
the  dominant  conception  of  God's  immanence.  The  subtle  penetra- 
tions of  these  theologians  into  the  mysteries  of  metaphysics  were 
inspired  by  the  matchless  power  of  the  personality  of  Jesus,  and  directed 
by  the  culture  and  discipline  of  current  philosophy.  The  great  con- 
quering truth  revealed  in  the  Gospel  that  God  is  love,  and  light,  and 

xSo  Dorner  states  in  Person  of  Christ,  Div.  II,  Vol.  I  :  248. 

2  See  De  Incar.,  6. 


LATIN  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY  37 

life,  was  by  these  masters  given  a  setting  the  value  of  which  our  own 
day  is  just  beginning  to  realize.  When  we  go  back  to  the  very  birth- 
place of  theology  we  find  this  conception  of  divine  immanence  as  a 
potent  factor  in  its  formulation.  And  this  going  back  to  Greek 
thought  in  theology  is  but  what  we  do  in  all  science,  literature,  and  art. 
What  the  noblest  had  striven  for,  what  the  most  poetic  had  dreamed, 
namely,  the  divine  and  the  human  in  intimate  relation,  was  revealed  in 
Jesus,  and  construed  to  thought  by  these  Alexandrian  teachers.  The 
so-called  "new  theology"  is  a  revival  in  modern  terminology  of  the 
oldest  Christian  ideas.  This  is  perhaps  better  seen  in  the  correlative 
Alexandrian  doctrine  of  man's  inherent  likeness  to  and  organic  one- 
ness with  God  in  the  Son.1  Man  was  worthy  of  redemption  ;  nay,  the 
love  of  God  for  His  own  compelled  the  coming  of  the  Son  on  the 
mission  of  salvation.  The  Son  came  into  no  foreign  country,  but  into 
the  work  of  his  own  hands,  and  to  his  own  people.  His  coming  and 
his  work  was  not  a  scheme  either  commercial  or  legal ;  it  was  fraternal 
and  filial.  This  doctrine  of  incarnation  was  an  answer  to  the  signifi- 
cant question  implied  in  the  dying  words  of  Plotinus  :  "I  am  striving 
to  bring  the  God  within  me  into  harmony  with  the  God  in  the  uni- 
verse."   

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  LATIN  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY. 

Not  even  the  influence  of  Grecian  thought  could  suppress  the 
characteristic  Roman  spirit  which  began  to  assert  itself  as  a  moulding 
force  in  Christianity  as  early  as  the  second  century.  The  forensic 
trend  of  the  Roman  mind  which  had  shaped  the  destiny  of  the  Empire 
was  sufficient  to  effect  a  legal  formulation  of  the  religion  of  Jesus,  and 
to  give  western  theology  an  impetus  the  significance  and  power  of 
which  are  more  fully  seen  in  modern  Calvinism.  In  the  hands  of  the 
eminent  Tertullian,  Hyppolytus,  Cyprian,  Ambrose,  and  Augustine, 
the  plastic  truth  of  the  revelation  was  cast  in  a  political  mould,  and 
the  foundation  of  Catholicism  was  securely  laid.  These  men  were 
jurists  of  high  rank,  and  the  new  religion  offered  a  rare  opportunity 
for  the  display  of  their  talent.2 

1  Maine  in  Ancient  Law,  p.  342,  says:     "The  Greek  theologians  regarded  the 
image  of  God  in  man  as  an  inalienable  possession,  and  therefore  regarded  God  and 
man  as  bound  together  by  an  organic  tie." 

2  Imperial  Rome  could  be  satisfied  only  with  an  imperial  Church ;  the  Church  as  a 
democracy  was  soon  lost  from  view. 


38  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

I.      TERTULLIAN. 
(160-240.) 

In  Tertullian  the  distinctive  Latin  type  of  Christianity  was  well 
expressed.  Origen  the  Greek  and  he  stand  at  the  very  opposite  poles 
in  quality  of  mind  and  disposition.  The  former  was  idealistic,  spirit- 
ual, mild,  thoughtful,  philosophical,  logical,  and  cultured ;  the  latter, 
realistic,  impetuous,  juristic,  obscure,  and  abrupt.1  Tertullian  was  a 
good  Roman,  having  a  strong  will  and  quick  temper,  born  to  conquer 
and  rejoicing  in  conquest. 

He  was  not  only  a  Roman,  he  was  also  a  Roman  Stoic.  The  doc- 
trine of  universal  reason  he  put  in  these  words :  "  Reason  in  fact  is  a 
thing  of  God,  inasmuch  as  there  is  nothing  which  God,  the  maker  of 
all,  has  not  provided,  disposed,  and  ordained  by  Reason."2  Not  only 
so,  but  he  was  materialistic  in  thought.  To  him  all  existence  was  cor- 
poreal.3 He  carried  this  idea  into  the  realm  of  the  Absolute.  God  is 
universal  substance.4  But  all  substance  is  not  necessarily  alike.  God, 
as  the  universal  substance,  is  peculiar  to  Himself.  He  is  body  spiritus, 
filling  all  space,  but  not  capable  of  division.  He  is  not,  however, 
identified  with  the  world.  The  world  has  its  own  substance  (sub- 
stantid).  In  creation  God  became  individualized  as  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit.  The  Son  is  the  universal  Reason.  All  history  previous  to 
the  birth  of  Jesus  was  a  preparation  for  his  coming.  Indeed,  the  whole 
universe  is  an  expression  of  the  will  of  God  as  consisting  of  three  per- 
sons. These  are  the  functionary  centres  of  all  life  and  thought.  All 
human  affairs  are  obedient  to  the  divine  law.  God  is  Judge  and  Lord. 
This  juristic  idea  is  further  expressed  in  Tertullian's  exposition  of  the 
doctrine  of  sin.  Man  as  a  sinner  is  a  criminal  standing  before  the  Judge 
of  all.  Transgression  means  penalty.  There  is,  however,  one  way  of 
escape.  The  Son  has  come  into  the  world  and  offered  himself  as  a 
sacrifice.  God  wills  that  everyone  who  repents  and  believes  on  the 
Son  shall  be  saved.  This  decree  is  not  open  to  question,  nor  is  man 
in  obeying  it  to  be  guided  by  his  reason.  He  is  to  yield  to  the  divine 
will.5  The  will  of  God  is  above  the  natural  reason  of  man.  For  this 

1  Cf.  Crutwell,  History  of  Early  Christianity,  p.  512. 

2  See  De  Pcenit. 

3  "  All  things  have  one  form  of  simple  corporeality  which  is  the  essential  quality 
of  substance." — Ad.  Hermog.,  35. 

4  Ad.  Prax.,  7. 

s  "  I  hold  it  audacity  to  dispute  about  the  good  of  any  divine  precept ;  for  it  is  not 
the  fact  that  it  is  good  which  binds  us  to  obey,  but  the  fact  that  God  enjoins  it." 


LATIN  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY 

reason  the  Gospel  has  been  given.  No  man  by  searching  can  find 
out  God.  Revelation,  if  seemingly  absurd,  is  to  be  accepted  as  truth. 
"Credibile  est,  quia  ineptum  est;  certum  est,  quid  impossible  est;  credo 
quia  absurdum"  Hence  salvation  fromTsin  is  of  grace  by  blind  obe- 
dience to  the  decree  of  God. 

To  give  permanence  to  this  doctrine  of  salvation  by  decree  the 
correlative  dogma  of  the  function  and  power  of  the  Church  was  con- 
ceived. The  materialism  of  the  Stoics  shaped  at  this  point  Tertullian's 
thought.  The  Holy  Spirit  in  order  to  be  real  must  find  embodiment 
in  some  visible  form.  The  Church  organization  served  as  the  best 
agency  to  preserve  the  individuality  of  the  Spirit.  The  Scriptures  also 
must  be  guarded  from  assault.  What  more  natural  than  to  suppose 
that  the  institution  founded  by  the  sacrifice  of  Peter  and  Paul  was 
intended  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  written  Word  ?  This  dogma 
was  the  beginning  of  ecclesiasticism.  Its  roots  are  found  in  the  mis- 
conception of  the  nature  of  the  Divine  Being. 

Previous  to  the  time  of  Augustine  the  strongest  advocate  of  eccle- 
siasticism was  Cyprian,  the  head  of  the  north-African  clergy.1  He 
lacked  the  necessary  power  of  mind  for  a  theologian,  but  was  not 
wanting  in  organizing  genius.  The  ambition  of  his  life  was  to  unify 
the  churches  scattered  abroad  in  the  various  provinces  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  to  establish  a  hierarchy  of  ecclesiastics.  The  idea  was 
hinted  at  by  Irenseus.  It  lies  in  the  very  centre  of  Tertullian's 
thought.  Cyprian  realized  the  idea  in  a  fact  —  the  priestly  order  cen- 
tred at  Rome.  Hence  arose  the  belief  that  the  Church  is  a  divine 
society  administered  by  men,  chosen  and  consecrated  as  the  represen- 
tatives of  Christ  on  earth.2 

When  Constantine  became  the  protector  and  representative  of 
Christianity  the  character  of  religious  life  in  the  Church  began  to 
retrograde.  Under  the  Emperor's  influence,  aided  by  current  theo- 
logical opinion,  the  union  of  State  and  Church  was  effected.  No  more 
serious  and  far-reaching  event  could  have  happened  in  the  history  of 
early  Christianity.  Bishops  were  appointed  by  the  State  in  every  com- 
munity of  the  nation.  The  imperial  institution  of  Rome  —  a  politico- 
religious  organization  —  arose  in  all  its  might  to  rule  the  destinies  of 
men.  It  is  little  wonder  that  in  the  exercise  of  political  right  and 
might  the  spirit  of  religious  freedom  suffered  violence.  As  the  Church 

1  Cyprian  died  a  martyr's  death  258. 

2Cf.  Tertullian's  De  Prescriptions  Hereticorum  and  Cyprian's  De  Unitate  Ecclesia. 


4°  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

assumed  the  function  of  mediator  between  God  and  man,  the  thought 
of  Jesus  that  God  is  Father  gradually  faded  from  the  consciousness  of 
men.  The  crystallizing  of  faith  resulted  in  a  dwarfed  religious  life. 

In  these  days  of  religious  decline  the  doctrine  of  God  was  a  matter 
of  grave  dispute.  The  Arian  controversy,  which  in  various  forms 
lasted  for  a  century,  became  the  means  of  defining  the  orthodox  posi- 
tion in  respect  to  the  Trinity.  The  second  general  council,  which 
convened  at  Constantinople  A.  D.  381,  restated  the  creed  published 
by  the  Council  of  Nicaea  A.  D.  325,  and  thus  stamped  as  heresy  the 
subordination  views  of  the  Arian  party.  The  Son  was  declared  to  be 
eternally  one  and  equal  with  God  the  Father.  The  doctrine  of  the 
personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  yet  to  be  fully  defined. 

II.       AUGUSTINE. 

(396-430.) 

The  crisis  through  which  the  Church  passed  during  the  close  of  the 
fourth  century  was  the  occasion  for  the  rise  into  prominence  of  the 
founder  of  western  theology  —  Augustine,  "the  greatest,  mightiest, 
and  most  influential  of  all  the  Fathers."  What  Paul  was  to  the  early 
Church  Augustine  became  to  the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages.  He 
saved  theology  from  barren  sophism  by  his  clear-cut  views  of  doctrine. 
So  comprehensive  was  his  system  of  thought  that  opposing  schools  in 
later  years  quoted  him  as  authority.  Today  Protestants  and  Catholics 
do  him  homage. 

The  indulgence  of  youth  left  a  sting  in  the  breast  of  Augustine. 
He  ran  the  whole  round  of  sensuous  delight,  but  found  no  lasting 
satisfaction  therein.  This  fact  accounts  largely  for  his  early  adoption 
of  the  Manichean  philosophy.  The  Manicheans  were  eclectic,  dual- 
istic,  mystical,  and  ascetic.  In  their  system  of  thought  Augustine  saw 
an  explanation  of  himself.  Man  and  God  were  infinitely  separated  ; 
the  flesh  is  the  seat  of  evil ;  the  world  is  the  home  of  disorder  and 
death.  The  conversion  of  Augustine  to  Christianity  did  not  change 
his  philosophical  conceptions,  and  hence  his  theology  was  shaped  by 
Manichean  metaphysics. 

Particularly  is  this  shown  in  his  doctrine  of  God.  The  Infinite 
exists  apart  from  the  world,  and  acts  upon  it  from  without.  He  is 
absolutely  independent  of  the  physical  universe,  complete  in  His  spirit- 
ual habitation.  Everything  pertaining  to  nature  and  human  nature  is 
dependent  on  Him.  Even  reason  in  man  is  the  gift  of  God's  grace. 
By  the  light  of  reason  man  comes  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Deity. 


LATIN  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY  41 

Judgment  and  reflection  are  the  source  of  spiritual  wisdom.  This 
thought  of  God  unifies  all  truth.  The  omnipotence,  omniscience,  and 
goodness  of  the  Supreme  constitute  His  unity,  as  being,  knowing,  and 
willing  constitute  the  unity  of  the  human  soul.  As  the  soul  is  not 
divided  because  of  its  identity,  although  existing  in  a  threefold 
aspect  as  memory,  thought,  and  will,  so  God  is  one  being  existing  in 
self-distinctions  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.1  God,  then,  is  the 
supreme  will  of  the  universe.  The  existence  of  the  world,  the  nature 
of  man,  his  condition  as  a  sinner,  the  means  of  escape  from  punish- 
ment, the  end  of  all  things,  according  to  Augustine  are  to  be  construed 
from  the  standpoint  of  this  all-powerful  will  of  God. 

God  in  creation  made  that  which  was  good.2  Yet  the  world  was 
not  made  from  His  essence  as  an  equal,  but  by  a  fiat  of  will  to  be  sub- 
ordinate in  all  things.3  He,  then,  is  omnipresent  (ubique  diffusus]  as 
the  ground  of  all  being.  To  withdraw  the  support  of  His  will  would 
plunge  all  things  into  the  void  from  whence  they  came.  The  soul  was 
made  a  spiritual  substance,  having  the  spiritual  functions  of  memory, 
thought,  and  will.  It  is  indestructible,  the  highest  created  good. 
Evil  is  not  real  in  the  sense  of  having  eternal  essence.  The  evil  of 
the  soul  consists  in  its  declension  from  a  higher  to  a  lower  state  of 
being.  It  is  a  wilful  forth-putting  of  the  self  and  is  negative  in  char- 
acter. It  is  lack  of  being,  that  is,  evil  has  causa  difficiens,  not  causa 
efficient.  Evil  is  a  marring  of  the  good,  an  infraction  of  beauty,  hap- 
piness, and  virtue. 

The  agent  in  this  act  of  destroying  the  goodness  of  life  is  perfectly 
free.  Certainly,  God  cannot  be  charged  with  destroying  His  own 
work.  Man,  if  blameworthy,  must  have  the  power  of  choice.  Only 
so  can  God  justly  punish  the  sinner.  Man,  however,  possesses  this 
freedom  of  will  ideally.  Adam,  the  father  of  the  race,  was  free  to 
choose  the  evil  or  the  good.  His  choice  of  evil  caused  the  whole  world 
to  lapse  from  its  original  state  of  perfection.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  evil  in  the  world,  and  because  of  Adam's  generic  relations  to  the  race 
the  human  family  was  smirched  with  the  taint  of  sin.  Now  man  is 
no  longer  free.  Inherited  sin  renders  the  individual  incapable  of 
attaining  any  good  by  his  own  strength,  and  makes  the  whole  race  con- 
demned before  God.  No  one  deserves  the  grace  of  God.  This  was 
forfeited  by  the  ancestor  of  man.  Adam's  choice  being  the  cause  of 

1  See  De  Trin.,  11  : 18,  and  De  Lit.  Art.,  2  :  7. 

2  See  De  Civ.  Dei.,  n  :  21. 

II  :  10. 


42  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

sin  does  not,  however,  relieve  man  from  responsibility.  Man  was  free 
in  Adam.  He  is  to  be  judged  as  if  he  were  still  free. 

In  the  condition  of  death  which  sin  entailed  upon  the  race  God 
has  gone  forth  by  a  free  act  of  His  own  will  and  elected  a  few  to  be 
saved.  Upon  these  favorites  He  bestows  a  special  grace  which  guaran- 
tees their  choice  of  the  good  and  their  persisting  in  the  way  of  right- 
eousness.1 Thus  we  find  in  the  world  two  societies,  the  people  of  God 
and  the  people  of  the  earth,  the  one  destined  to  be  saved,  the  other  to 
be  eternally  lost.  The  punishment  of  the  sinner  sets  forth  God's 
justice  and  thus  brings  glory  to  His  name;  the  bestowment  of  grace 
upon  the  saved  exhibits  His  mercy,  and  this,  too,  adds  a  lustre  to  His 
glory. 

With  all  due  respect  to  Augustine,  whose  doctrine  is  largely  respon- 
sible for  all  modern  orthodoxy,  it  is  not  fair  to  pass  this  point  without 
calling  attention  to  some  of  his  more  apparent  contradictions.  In  the 
course  of  time  he  broke  away  somewhat  from  the  metaphysical  dualism 
of  the  Manicheans,  only,  however,  to  posit  an  ethical  dualism  equally 
as  hopeless  and  fatal.  He  began  with  the  idea  of  the  supremacy  of 
the  Divine  Will  in  all  created  things.  From  this  his  idea  of  predesti- 
nation is  developed  most  remorselessly.  He  goes  so  far  as  to  deny 
man  the  power  of  self-determined  action.  Man  is  a  machine  in  the 
hands  of  a  master.  But  the  future  of  the  individual  is  determined  by 
his  relation  to  sin  or  to  grace.  His  relation  to  sin  is  determined  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  race  in  Adam  ;  his  relation  to  grace  is  determined 
by  the  independent,  unconditioned,  self-moved  will  of  God.  In  both 
cases  man  is  subject  to  the  will  of  God,  else  God  is  not  supreme.  Yet 
man  in  Adam  was  free,  else  responsibility  is  wanting  and  punishment 
is  unjust.  If  Adam  was  absolutely  free,  God  became  absolute  by  reason 
of  sin,  which  denies  the  very  fundamental  idea  of  God.  If  Adam 
was  not  free,  then  God  is  the  cause  of  evil. 

The  doctrine  of  the  supremacy  of  the  divine  will  was  seized  upon 
by  the  Latin  Church  with  great  eagerness.  This  idea  was  coupled  with 
Tertullian's  notion  of  the  Church  as  the  custodian  of  salvation  and  the 
Scriptures.  Augustine  taught  that  the  Church  was  supreme  in  its 
dictates  and  that  the  grace  of  God  was  bestowed  through  it  as  a 
divinely  ordered  channel.  Accordingly,  through  the  door  of  the 
Church  man  entered  the  abode  of  God.  Baptism,  administered  by  the 
hands  of  priests  of  the  heavenly  commission,  washes  away  original  sin, 
and  by  the  same  agency  the  Holy  Spirit  is  given.  This  doctrine  of 

1  See  De  Carr.  et  Graf.,  33. 


LATIN  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY  43 

election  and  salvation  according  to  the  divine  will  through  the  Church 
was  the  leading  dogma  contributed  by  Augustine  to  his  followers. 

III.       A  COMPARISON    OF    LATIN    AND    GREEK    THOUGHT. 

Even  this  brief  survey  of  the  development  of  early  Christian 
thought  shows  that  the  human  mind  cannot  rest  in  purely  religious 
conceptions,  but  must  attempt  their  vindication  at  the  bar  of  philo- 
sophical inquiry.  The  human  intellect  always  seeks  to  construe  the 
experiences  and  valuations  of  life  into  a  thought  system,  and  religious 
belief  always  tends  to  crystallize  itself  into  dogma. 

This  survey  shows  also  that  the  special  form  of  dogma  into  which 
religion  is  moulded  depends  not  more  upon  the  nature  of  that  truth 
itself  than  upon  the  mental  point  of  view  of  him  who  conceives  it. 
Greek  and  Latin  dogma  are  the  result  of  attempts  to  make  clear  and 
rational  the  same  facts ;  the  meaning  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ, 
the  knowledge  of  God  through  Israel,  the  experience  of  all  men, 
human  history  and  philosophy — these  were  the  data  accepted  as  truth 
by  all.  Moreover,  these  interpretations,  differing  as  they  do  at  nearly 
every  point,  are  nevertheless  contributions  toward  that  end  for  which 
all  religious  thought  exists,  namely,  a  better  knowledge  of  God.  These 
types  of  thought  are  partial.  Indeed,  all  thought,  however  full  and 
systematic  it  may  appear  in  its  day,  in  the  very  nature  of  things  is 
changed  by  future  reflection.  Perhaps,  as  a  recent  writer  says,  Greek 
thought  is  more  interpretative  to  our  age  than  the  Latin,1  but  the  latter 
has  given  the  formula  of  Christian  orthodoxy  for  fifteen  centuries,  and 
cannot  be  ignored. 

The  value  to  be  ascribed  to  these  phases  of  theological  develop- 
ment can  best  be  estimated  by  contrasting  their  essential  elements. 
The  Greek,  because  of  his  tendency  to  speculation,  often  ignored  the 
practical  truth  of  every-day  life  in  which  all  philosophy  must  finally  be 
tested.  The  Latin,  on  the  other  hand,  in  his  habit  of  dealing  with  con- 
crete affairs  often  failed  to  grasp  the  spiritual  significance,  the  real 
ground  on  which  religious  verities  must  ever  rest.  The  one  was  theo- 
logical, the  other  anthropological ;  the  one  started  with  the  idea  of  the 
Logos,  the  other  with  the  idea  of  salvation;  the  one  endeavored  to 
abstract  from  the  nature  of  the  Infinite  those  elements  which  relate  Him 
to  the  finite,  the  other  attempted  to  see  God  through  anthropomorphic 
and  juristic  conceptions,  and  express  religion  in  terms  suited  to  arouse 
the  emotions  of  reverence  and  worship.  To  the  former  God  was  ideally 

1  Allen,  Continuity  of  Christian  Thought,  p.  34. 


44  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

immanent,  to  the  latter  He  was  really  transcendent.  To  the  Greek 
the  truth  was  clear  that  man  was  akin  to  Deity,  to  the  Latin  it  was 
equally  certain  that  man  was  an  alien  to  God.  The  one  believed  salva- 
tion came  from  within,  the  other  thought  it  came  from  without. 
One  saw  in  the  world  the  unfolding  of  divine  beauty  and  perfection,  the 
other  saw  the  evil  consequences  of  sin,  the  reign  of  the  Prince  of  Dark- 
ness. To  the  one  human  life  was  an  education,  to  the  other  a  probation. 

There  was  a  strong  inclination  on  the  part  of  the  Greek  theologians 
to  avoid  fixing  truth  in  hard  and  fast  dogma ;  on  the  contrary,  it  was 
the  very  ambition  of  the  Latins  to  externalize  all  spiritual  relations  in 
customs,  laws,  forms,  ceremonies,  and  institutions.  To  the  Greek 
God's  abode  is  the  universe  of  spirit ;  ideas  of  space  and  time  do  not 
belong  to  Him  ;  He  is  immanent,  manifesting  Himself  in  history  and  in 
nature.  The  deepest  reality  of  the  world  is  spirit.  God  is  the  Father 
of  all  men,  and  the  Son,  the  Logos,  is  Jesus.  Jesus  is  the  expression  in 
time  of  the  immanent  principle  of  the  universe,  the  final  cause  of  which 
is  perfected  manhood.  The  Latin  theologians,  on  the  contrary,  held 
rigorously  to  the  view  that  man  and  God  occupied  entirely  different 
spheres.  The  Incarnation  was  an  afterthought  in  the  mind  of  God,  made 
necessary  because  of  man's  sin.  Jesus  is  the  expression  of  divine  grace, 
wisdom,  and  mercy.  He  was  an  actor  in  the  great  drama  of  salvation. 
The  Greek  said,  "Christ  is  all  and  in  all; "  the  Latin  said,  "Adam  lost  all." 

Notwithstanding  the  virility  of  Grecian  ideas,  and  the  comprehensive 
character  of  Grecian  thought,  the  Latin  type  of  theology  prevailed. 
The  reason  for  this  is  clear.  The  Latin  interpretation  of  Christianity 
gave  rise  to  an  imperial  Church.  Greek  life  declined  in  intellectual 
strength,  and  became  absorbed  in  the  rising  intelligence  and  philosophy 
of  Rome.  From  this  time  until  the  Reformation  ecclesiasticism  fettered 
human  inquiry.  The  idea  of  God  was  henceforth  delivered  through 
the  authority  of  the  Church.  The  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  gained  social 
and  political  prestige,  but  the  Church  lost  the  sense  and  the  inspiration 
of  spiritual  freedom.  The  complete  triumph  of  Tertullian's  thought 
plunged  the  Church  into  the  despair  of  the  Dark  Ages. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  SCHOLASTIC  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY. 

In  vain  we  look  through  the  period  of  scholasticism  for  any  evi- 
dence of  renewed  spiritual  life  in  the  Church.  It  was  a  time  of  verbal 
dispute.  The  only  result  which  attended  the  expression  of  the  almost 


SCHOLASTIC  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY  45 

universal  passion  for  logic  was  a  series  of  barren  philosophical  formulas. 
The  scholastics  probably  did  not  thus  consciously  prostitute  religion, 
for  they  were  laboring  under  the  mistaken  idea  that  nothing  could  be 
true  in  doctrine  or  life  which  did  not  appear  as  the  result  of  a  syllo- 
gism. And,  still  further,  they  erred  in  accepting  as  final  the  concep- 
tion of  God  wrought  out  by  Augustine  instead  of  beginning  their 
inquiry  by  ascertaining  the  conception  of  God  revealed  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  Jesus. 

More  specifically,  the  origin  of  scholastic  thought  is  intimately 
associated  with  the  rise  into  prominence  of  the  idea  that  revelation 
possesses  fixed  historical  authority.  This,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
was  a  more  or  less  important  dogma  with  Tertullian,  Cyprian,  and 
Augustine.  The  triumph  of  the  Latin  over  the  Greek  type  of 
theology  made  possible  the  further  development  of  this  idea  into  the 
form  of  an  external  authority  assumed  by  the  Church  as  the  appointed 
guardian  of  this  precious  treasure.  Coupled  with  ecclesiastical  victory 
was  also  the  favorable  political  condition  brought  about  by  the  disrup- 
tion and  ruin  incident  to  the  invasion  of  the  northern  barbarians. 
The  common  people  cried  out  for  help.  The  Church  came  to  the 
rescue,  and  by  its  voice  of  authority  compelled  obedience  from  even 
unconquerable  foes.  Not  only  barbarians,  but  reason  also,  was  made  to 
bow  in  submission  to  the  ecclesiastical  will. 

I.       ANSELM. 

(1033-1109.) 

When  the  Church  was  sounding  forth  its  notes  of  warning  and 
instruction,  when  its  authority  was  being  universally  recognized,  when 
the  priesthood  was  becoming  rich  on  the  gifts  of  penitent  sinners, 
there  appeared  another  great  champion  of  ecclesiastical  power  — 
Anselm,  "the  Augustinian  of  his  age."  He  possessed  a  mind  at  once 
broad  and  clear,  an  ability  to  penetrate  into  the  mysteries  of  faith, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  heart  loving  and  calm.  He  marks  the  begin, 
ning  of  the  new  development  of  theology  by  means  of  speculation 
based  on  thoroughgoing  logic.  He  was  both  theoretical  and  practi- 
cal, rational  and  mystical.  So  many-sided  were  his  fundamental  phi- 
losophical views  that  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  the  realist,  and  Abelard,  the 
conceptualist,  both  take  him  as  their  authority  in  these  respects. 

The  supreme  question  for  this  Neo-Augustinian  was  the  all-impor- 
tant one  for  theology  :  How  may  faith  be  guaranteed  in  knowledge  ? 
He  never  questioned  the  validity  of  the  dogmas  propounded  by  the 


46  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

Church,  but  attempted  to  put  under  them  the  sure  foundation  of 
reason,  not,  however,  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  the  impression  in  the 
minds  of  any  that  reason  is  primary.  His  special  determining  dictum 
was  expressed  in  his  credo  ut  intelligam. 

There  stood  before  him  in  all  its  formal  magnificence  the  Church, 
the  institution  which  embodied  unquestionably  the  very  truth  of  God. 
This  presupposition  he  never  questioned,  but  with  all  the  vigor  of  his 
cultured  mind  he  sought  to  understand  its  significance,  and  make  clear 
its  claim  to  universal  acceptance.  This  institution  expressed  to  Anselm 
two  profound  facts,  the  existence  of  God  and  the  certainty  of  redemp- 
tion. These  facts  are  the  province  of  faith.  Nevertheless,  to  sub- 
stantiate these  cardinal  truths  appeal  must  be  made  to  the  reasoning 
power  of  man.  Such  was  the  motive  which  prompted  him  to  write  the 
Proslogium,  the  Monologium,  and  Cur  Deus  Homo  —  monumental  trea- 
tises for  theology,  which  have  ever  since  done  valiant  service  in  the  lives 
of  a  certain  class  of  men.  There  is,  however,  underlying  all  the  work 
of  this  great  teacher  the  fatal  assumption  that  all  truth  is  capable  of 
demonstration,  that  formal  knowledge  is  the  consummation  of  human 
experience,  that  the  truth  of  cognition  is  fundamental,  that  thought 
and  existence  are  one. 

In  the  Proslogium  we  find  the  first  complete  statement  of  the  onto- 
logical  argument.  It  is  an  attempt  to  prove  God's  existence  from  the 
idea  of  Him  in  the  human  mind.1  Stating  the  argument  briefly :  By 
the  word  "God"  we  mean  the  absolutely  perfect  Being.  There  is  no 
person  who  has  not  such  a  conception.  Now,  it  cannot  be  that  the 
finite  intellect  is  greater  than  the  Being  of  which  it  has  an  idea.  This 
Being  (quo  majus  cogitore  non  potest)  must  be  real,  else  He  would  lack 
the  chief  element  of  perfection  and  would  therefore  not  be  the  Being 
already  conceived.  The  content  of  consciousness  (esse  in  intellectu)  is 
also  a  metaphysical  entity  (esse  etiam  in  re).  As  anyone  can  readily 
see,  the  real  argument  in  the  case  is,  if  God  be  thought  of  as  the  most 
perfect  Being,  He  must  be  thought  of  as  existing.  The  fallacy  is 
apparent.  In  the  argument  the  fundamental  idea  of  realism  is  brought 
to  light,  namely,  that  conception  and  truth  are  one.2 

Anselm  the  theologian  is  better  exhibited  in  the  Christological 
treatise  Cur  Deus  Homo.  Nowhere  as  in  this  discussion  is  revealed  his 

1 "  Thou  art  so  truthful,  O  Lord  my  God,  that  Thou  canst  not  be  conceived  as 
non-existent ;  for  if  any  spirit  could  conceive  something  better  than  Thyself,  this 
creature  would  rise  above  the  Creator." 

2Gaunilo,  a  monk  of  Marmontiers,  a  contempory  of  Anselm,  refuted  the  argument 
with  great  emphasis. 


SCHOLASTIC  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY  47 

conception  of  God.  The  central  thought  of  the  work  is  atonement. 
A  more  or  less  vague  idea  of  the  work  of  Jesus  in  atoning  for  sin  had 
always  possessed  the  mind  of  the  Church.  Athanasius,  Gregory  of 
Nazianzen,  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  Ambrose,  and  Augustine  accepted  the 
fact,  but  gave  it  no  permanent  analysis  in  dogmatic  form.  This  was  a 
chief  contribution  of  Anselm  in  the  development  of  theology.  He 
subjected  the  fact  of  redemption  to  the  test  of  reason.  If  others  had 
conceived  of  an  atonement  in  which  the  ransom  for  man's  guilt  was 
paid  to  Satan,  it  is  to  the  great  credit  of  Anselm  that  he  repudiated 
the  notion,  and  considered  the  death  of  Jesus  as  appeasing  the  justice 
of  God.  The  guilt  of  man  could  not  be  forgiven  until  justice  was  sat- 
isfied. God  is  the  absolute  ruler.  All  created  beings  exist  for  His 
glory.  Obedience  is  the  condition  of  life.  No  act  of  disobedience 
can  be  atoned  for  by  man,  for  the  perfect  keeping  of  God's  will  is 
only  man's  duty.  Sin  withholds  from  the  Ruler  of  heaven  and  earth 
His  just  glory.  Justice  demands  the  death  of  a  sinner.  Only  God 
can  atone  for  this  guilt.  The  love  of  God  sacrifices  itself  to  justice, 
becomes  man  in  Jesus,  dies,  and  man  is  redeemed. 

The  immediate  effect  of  atonement  is  thus  confined  to  God.  The 
final  purpose  of  it  also,  for  the  salvation  of  man  secures  God's  honor, 
justice,  and  glory.  But  even  this  great  sacrifice  of  love  to  justice, 
instead  of  making  salvation  universal,  secures  it  for  a  mere  fraction  of 
the  human  family.  Those  who  consciously  appropriate  the  merit, 
the  result  of  Jesus'  death,  are  admitted  to  the  blessings  of  forgiveness. 
One  would  suppose  that  such  a  meritorious  work  as  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Son  of  God  would  in  sheer  justice  to  him  secure  the  complete  salvation 
of  the  race ;  not  only  so,  but  salvation  thus  secured  would  certainly 
satisfy  the  claims  of  justice  on  the  part  of  God.  However,  such  is  not 
the  case,  for  salvation  is  a  real  state  of  soul  in  him  who  is  saved,  not 
a  mere  external  performance.  In  this  limitation  of  the  effect  of  the 
atonement  is  the  principal  contradiction  of  Anselm's  theology. 

A  certain  feature  of  the  doctrine  of  atonement  was  seized  upon  by 
ecclesiastics  as  a  means  of  furthering  their  designs.  With  character- 
istic presumption  they  appropriated  to  themselves  the  duty  of  guard- 
ing the  "store  of  merit,"  the  result  of  Jesus'  sacrificial  death,  and  the 
privilege  of  bestowing  it  according  to  conditions  which  they  saw  fit  to 
impose.  This  was  the  beginning  of  indulgences,  which  is  another  evi- 
dence of  the  relation  between  the  idea  of  God  and  the  religious  life  of 
man. 


48  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

II.       ABELARD. 

(1079-1142.) 

The  triumph  of  ecclesiasticism  was  not  without  protest.  Among 
those  who  resisted  the  dogmatism  of  the  Church  was  Abelard,  the  con- 
ceptualist,  the  rationalist.  Realism,  with  its  tendency  to  pantheism  and 
nominalism,  with  its  sensualism,  fell  before  the  sharp  sword  of  his 
dialectic.  They  fell,  but  only  to  rise  again  in  other  forms. 

In  direct  opposition  to  Anselm,  Abelard  declared  that  knowledge 
precedes  faith,  that  religion  in  order  to  be  stable  must  be  rational,  and 
particularly  the  doctrine  of  atonement,  the  battle-ground  of  these  two 
opposing  champions,  must  rest,  not  upon  blind  faith  in  the  fact  of  sal- 
vation, but  upon  a  rational  understanding  of  the  process  of  redemption. 
In  other  words,  the  primary  question  is  an  ethical  one  :  How  does  Jesus 
save  ? 

The  solution  to  this  question  proposed  by  Anselm  was  grounded 
in  the  presupposition  or  belief  that  the  honor  of  God  was  the  end  to 
be  secured  at  all  costs,  and  that  this  was  achieved  by  the  sacrificial 
work  of  Jesus.  Abelard,  on  the  other  hand,  proposes  an  answer 
in  which  belief,  as  such,  occupies  a  less  important  place.  A  concrete 
study  of  the  means  by  which  salvation  becomes  a  fact  in  the  life  of  the 
sinner  needs  no  such  assumption  of  faith.  With  Anselm  he  assumes 
that  the  individual  cannot  be  justified  in  his  attempts  to  restore  the 
broken  law  of  God.  But  God  in  the  person  of  the  Son  by  identifying 
Himself  with  man  and  suffering  in  his  behalf  stirs  up  in  man  the  true 
faith  of  repentance.  God  is  revealed  as  the  benevolent  Father  whose 
chief  delight  and  glory  is  in  love.  The  response  in  the  life  of  the 
sinner  when  touched  by  the  appeal  of  grace  becomes  the  indissoluble 
bond  of  union  between  God  and  man,  and  this  is  the  real  ground  of 
forgiveness.1  The  basis  of  forgiveness  in  this  case  is,  then,  not  the 
meritorious  work  of  Jesus,  but  the  love  of  God.  The  atonement  is  an 
exhibition  of  love  for  the  purpose  of  salvation. 

That  the  general  temperament  of  a  theologian  shows  itself  in  his 
system  of  thought  is  almost  too  evident  for  remark.  However,  it  must 

xThis  exposition  is  based  on  Ritschl,  History  of  Justification  and  Reconciliation, 
p.  36.  One  of  the  ablest  defenders  of  Anselm's  doctrine  of  atonement,  the  late  Dr. 
Shedd,  in  his  History  of  Christian  Doctrine,  Vol.  II,  p.  287,  maintains  that  Abelard 
looked  at  the  great  question  of  salvation  from  a  much  lower  level  than  that  occupied 
by  Anselm.  He  says  in  proof  of  this  :  "  Abelard  begins  and  ends  with  the  benevolence 
of  God."  Whether  this  is  a  lower  level  or  not  depends  entirely  upon  one's  point  of 
view.  If  Jesus  is  the  standard,  it  certainly  is  not  a  lower  level,  for  to  Abelard  God  is 
Father,  while  to  Anselm  He  is  judge. 


SCHOLASTIC  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY  49 

be  borne  in  rnind,  just  as  in  the  case  of  Augustine,  experience  had 
much  to  do  in  shaping  Abelard's  religious  views.  Abelard  and 
Augustine  were  somewhat  alike  as  men  of  impulsive  nature,  but  the 
former  never  renounced  the  indulgence  of  affection  after  the  manner 
of  the  latter.  Abelard's  conduct  more  than  once  called  for  the  charity 
of  his  fellowmen.  He  thinks  of  God  as  one  predisposed  to  hide  the 
sinner  under  the  mantle  of  His  love.  He  dare  not,  he  could  not,  look 
into  the  face  of  a  Divine  Judge.  There  could  not  be  such  a  thing  as 
justice  in  God  which  demanded  satisfaction.  The  legal  philosophy 
of  Anselm  "  was  indeed  wonderful,  but  his  sense  contemptible  and 
devoid  of  reason.  As  it  were,  he  kindled  a  fire,  not  to  give  light  and 
warmth,  but  to  fill  the  house  with  smoke." 

Abelard's  rational  position  would  permit  of  no  narrow  view  of  revela- 
tion. Revelation  consists  primarily  in  the  far-reaching  influence  of 
God's  spirit,  not  in  any  particular  collection  of  writings.  Indeed,  the 
sacred  writings  of  the  Jews  and  the  philosophical  writings  of  the  Greeks 
are  evidence  of  the  truth.  God  has  nowhere  made  a  declaration  of 
Himself  in  words  which  as  such  are  binding  upon  any.1  The  inward 
character,  not  the  dogma  of  revelation  as  held  by  the  Church,  is  authority 
as  Scripture.  In  this  as  in  many  other  phases  of  his  doctrine  Abelard 
is  a  pupil  of  the  Greek  theologians  of  Alexandria. 

Such  a  view  of  revelation  was  enough  to  arouse  antagonism  on  the 
part  of  the  ecclesiastical  body.  It  was  the  beginning  of  reformation 
and  criticism.  The  conservative  forces  rallied  in  overwhelming 
numbers,  and  saved  the  Church  a  few  more  years  of  arbitrary  rule. 
Heresy  trials  became  frequent,  which  fact  always  marks  the  dawn  of 
better  days  in  religion.  The  fundamental  position  that  reason  is  the 
true  ground  of  authority  in  religion  had  to  wait  until  arbitrariness  had 
done  its  best  in  order  that  it  might  do  its  worst. 

III.       THOMAS    AQUINAS. 

(1227-1274.) 

The  best  which  the  doctrine  of  Church  authority  could  do  was  per- 
formed by  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  the  most  illustrious  theologian  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  In  him  the  Church  had  an  exponent  worthy  of  itself 
as  the  arbiter  of  human  destiny.  In  this  connection  must  be  men- 
tioned, not  only  the  man,  but  the  method,  which  saved  the  prestige  of 
ecclesiasticism.  Plato's  idealism,  strangely  enough,  had  coupled  with 

1  Nee  quia  deus  id  dixerat  creditur,  sed  quia  hoc  sic  esse  convincitur. — Int.  ad  Theo., 
p.  78. 


50  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

it  a  thoroughgoing  realism  which  supported  the  dogma  of  Church 
authority.  But  this  idealistic  realism,  followed  to  its  own  conclusion, 
as  in  the  case  of  John  Scotus  Erigena,  whose  worthy  successor  was 
Abelard,  led  to  a  rationalism  which  contradicted  the  cherished  dogma. 
Hence  arose  the  necessity  of  abandoning  Plato  or  the  dogma.  They 
preferred  to  find  a  new  basis  for  the  dogma.  This  was  discovered  in 
Aristotelian  metaphysics.  True,  the  Church  had  known  and  used  the 
logic  of  Aristotle,  but  not  until  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  was 
there  discovered  in  him  what  was  needed  to  battle  with  the  pantheistic 
and  rationalistic  tendencies  of  the  day.  Aristotle  taught  that  reality 
was  in  an  ascending  scale,  a  hierarchy  of  beings  of  which  God  was 
the  foundation  and  crown.  The  place  of  God  is  also  that  of  the  Church. 
In  the  shift  to  Aristotle  the  Church  showed  consummate  tact.  In  St. 
Thomas  of  Aquin  the  complete  transition  is  effectually  made. 

Philosophy  and  religion  stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of 
lower  to  the  higher.  The  function  of  the  former  is  to  consider  the 
phenomena  of  nature  and  to  interpret  them  according  to  reason.  To 
religion  is  given  a  higher  work,  the  revelation  of  truth  which  pertains 
to  the  being  and  operations  of  Deity.  What  former  theologians  had 
attempted,  and  in  part  only  accomplished,  St.  Thomas  achieved  to  the 
great  satisfaction  of  the  Church.  As  with  Anselm  and  Abelard,  so 
with  him  the  question  of  the  adjustment  of  reason  and  faith  was 
supreme.  He  answers  that  there  is  no  contradiction  between  philoso- 
phical and  religious  truth.  Man's  unaided  powers  may  attain  to  the 
former,  the  latter  is  the  gift  of  God's  grace.1  The  soul  of  man  is  the 
connecting  link  between  the  lower  and  the  higher  realm.  It  is  the 
highest  development  of  matter,  and  the  first  in  the  scale  of  immaterial 
things.  The  knowledge  of  creation,  sin,  incarnation,  and  the  sacra-t 
ments  is  given  from  above.  Reason  may  illustrate  these  truths,  but  i 
can  never  demonstrate  them. 

These  two  realms  of  truth  are  such  because  of  the  nature  of  God. 
He  is  arbitrary  will,  and  has  created  the  world  for  His  own  good  pleas- 
ure. The  universe  must  serve  Him,  although  His  happiness  is  complete 
without  it.  Even  the  means  employed  for  the  salvation  of  the  race, 
namely,  the  death  of  Jesus,  was  not  the  only  way  open  to  God  in  the 
great  work  of  redemption.  Forgiveness  does  not  rest  upon  repentance 

x"  It  is  impossible  for  the  natural  reason  to  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  the  divine 
persons.  By  natural  reason  we  may  know  those  things  which  pertain  to  the  unity  of 
the  divine  essence,  but  not  those  which  pertain  to  the  distinctions  of  the  divine  persons. 
He  who  attempts  to  prove  by  the  natural  reason  the  Trinity  detracts  from  the  rights 
of  faith."—  Sum.  Theo.,  I. 


SCHOLASTIC  TYPE  OF  THEOLOGY  51 

as  an  essential  condition.  The  condition  is  imposed  for  the  glory 
of  God.  The  soul  is  made  to  serve  God.  Should  it  know  of  eternal 
things  by  its  independent  searchings,  it  would  be  independent  in  life. 
It  knows  the  realm  of  reason,  for  this  was  made  a  servant  of  the  soul. 
The  realm  of  revelation  can  be  known  only  formally,  as  the  truth  is 
revealed  by  God's  grace. 

Hence  the  necessity  of  the  Church,  the  God-chosen  agency  of  reve- 
lation ;  hence,  also,  the  Scriptures  and  ecclesiastical  authority.  Those 
who  believe  in  the  practical  outcome  of  this  theology  owe  an  infinite 
debt  to  St.  Thomas,  for  he  established  the  doctrine  as  firmly  as  it  is 
possible  to  establish  a  religious  practice  and  belief  which,  in  the  process 
of  time,  must  pass  away.  No  wonder  he  is  called  the  flower  of  Middle- 
Age  theology.  But  the  very  intellectual  positivism  of  St.  Thomas  con- 
tained within  itself  an  element  that  eventually  proved  its  most  deadly 
antagonist.  When  St.  Thomas  affirmed  that  the  soul  of  man  is  capable 
of  knowing  divine  truth  by  the  help  of  revelation,  it  was  as  much  as  to 
say  that  by  nature  the  soul  can,  and  by  revelation  does,  know  God.  This 
is  the  seed  thought  of  German  mysticism.  Revelation  was  not  the 
special  work  of  ecclesiastics,  for  it  consisted  in  a  beatific  vision  or  illumi- 
nation of  soul.  This  revelation  is  the  result  of  faith.  What  is  this 
but  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation  ? 

Did  scholasticism  contribute  anything  to  a  better  understanding  of 
God  and  His  relations  to  man  ?  It  certainly  shows  how  far  the 
human  mind  can  go  in  following  arbitrarily  conceived  notions.  The 
chief  characteristic  of  the  period  was  this  servitude  to  presuppositions 
and  the  supposition  that  logic  never  leads  astray.  All  the  scholas- 
tics were  obedient  children  of  the  Church.  It  was  a  time  of  Church 
apotheosis. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  REFORMED  THEOLOGY. 

The  natural  effect  of  traditionalism  was  religious  degeneration. 
Ecclesiastics  were  subject  to  spiritual  benumbment,  and  in  time  gave 
evidence  of  immorality.  In  the  zeal  of  the  Church  to  extend  its  mate- 
rial welfare  devices  as  ingenious  as  those  of  the  Pharisees  were 
employed  to  make  pardonable  acts  that  otherwise  would  have  shocked 
even  an  ordinary  sense  of  right.  The  way  was  being  paved  for  reform. 


52  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

Mysticism  was  making  itself  felt  in  many  a  cloister.  Greek  and 
Roman  literatures  were  rediscovered.  Maritime  discovery  was  open- 
ing the  eyes  of  man  to  new  possibilities.  Invention  was  adding  a  new 
impulse  to  inquiry.  Man  was  coming  to  himself.  The  result  of  the 
demand  for  a  more  rational  Christianity  and  this  new  sense  of  life  was 
shown  in  the  Reformation,  a  movement  whose  avowed  object  was  to 
revive  the  drooping  cause  of  religion  by  placing  faith  on  the  basis  of 
the  revealed  will  of  God  in  the  Scriptures. 

I.       LUTHER. 

(1483-1546.) 

Wycliff,  Huss,  and  Savonarola  preceded  Luther  in  affirming  the 
cardinal  truth  of  the  Reformation,  that  the  Scriptures  can  give  the  only 
authoritative  answer  to  the  question  :  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  x 
But  the  burning  of  the  Pope's  bull  by  Luther  in  1520  was  the  decisive 
step  that  freed  the  new  religious  spirit. 

The  striking  contrast  between  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  eccle  • 
siastical  body  in  his  day  and  that  of  the  apostolic  age  stirred  in  Luther's 
mind  an  inquiry  into  its  cause.  He  placed  in  the  scale  of  judgment 
Church  forms,  discipline,  dogma,  commands,  and  penalties,  only  to  find, 
when  measured  by  the  standard  given  in  the  epistles  of  Paul,  that  they 
were  empty  and  worthless.  The  New  Testament  was  in  such  direct 
opposition  to  Roman  tradition  that  an  acceptance  of  the  one  meant  the 
rejection  of  the  other.  Avowing  himself  as  a  willing  disciple  of  Paul, 
whatever  were  the  consequences,  Luther  had  one  emphatic  idea  to  main- 
tain :  that  God  alone  is  the  source  of  salvation,  the  sole  dependence  and 
strength  of  His  people.  For  this  idea  of  God  he  goes  back  to  Augustine 
as  a  means  of  understanding  Paul,  and  as  Paul  is  nothing  save  as  he 
expounds  the  Gospel,  so  he  finds  himself  face  to  face  with  Jesus  the  Son 
of  God.  This  vision  of  God,  granted  to  Luther  in  a  deep  religious 
experience,  was  the  soul  of  the  new  movement  against  ecclesiasticism. 

Luther  did  not  give  his  age  a  systematic  theology.  His  was  a  far 
more  significant  contribution  to  religion,  namely,  a  powerful  conviction, 
an  inspiration,  that  gave  life  to  dead  formalism  and  quickened  again 
the  sense  of  the  nearness  of  God.  It  grew  out  of  his  own  experience 
in  securing  forgiveness  for  sin.  In  the  truth  that  God  is  always  ready 
to  forgive,  that  He  is  the  living,  loving,  compassionate  Father,  he 
found  rest  for  his  soul.  In  the  words  of  the  eminent  Harnack  : 
"  Above  all  anxiety  and  sorrow,  above  all  the  artifices  of  asceticism, 

1  Wycliff,  1324-1384;  Huss,  1369-1415;  Savonarola,   1452-1498. 


-  :   - 
*f 


REFORMED    THEOLOGY  53 

above  all  the  prescriptions  of  theology,  he  pressed  on  to  Christ,  that 
he  might  lay  hold  on  God  Himself,  and  in  this  act  of  faith,  which  he 
recognized  as  the  work  of  God,  he  won  an  independence  and  stead- 
fastness, yes,  a  personal  assurance  and  joy,  such  as  no  mediaeval  man 
had  ever  expressed." 

The  leading  thought  of  the  Alexandrian  theologians,  that  man  is 
made  in  the  image  of  God,  was  a  cardinal  thought  with  Luther.  Yet 
he  perceived  that  the  sinner  is  brought  in  a  special  manner  into  like- 
ness and  favor  with  God  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  This  faith  is 
more  than  a  channel  of  communication ;  it  is  the  vital  principle  of 
union  between  man  and  God.  When  the  union  is  established,  the 
forgiven  sinner  appropriates  the  very  life  of  Christ  and  is  raised 
into  that  estate  for  which  he  was  destined  from  the  beginning. 
Luther  thought  of  God  as  a  being  having  ethical  perfection.  What 
is  given  to  man  in  Christ,  namely,  truth,  wisdom,  love,  holiness,  joy, 
and  peace,  are  complete  in  the  character  of  Deity.  Hence  the  ethical 
attributes  are  fundamental  in  God.  He  is  an  object,  not  of  specula- 
tion, but  of  reverence  and  love.  He  lives  for  the  heart  of  man.  He 
desires  man  as  an  object.  Man  desires  Him  as  his  goal.  The  Church 
is  to  give  up  barren  dispute  as  to  God's  existence,  and  to  busy  itself 
with  appropriating  His  life. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  measure  the  gulf  between  scholastic 
thought  and  this  aspect  of  reformed  theology.  It  is  the  infinite  space 
between  the  Church  as  authority  and  Christ ;  between  servile  obedi- 
ence to  form  and  spiritual  appreciation ;  between  penance  and 
repentance  ;  between  the  thought  of  God  as  Judge  and  the  idea  of 
Fatherhood ;  between  a  theology  based  on  metaphysical  presuppositions 
and  a  theology  of  religious  experience. 

II.       CALVIN. 

(1509-1564.) 

Although  Luther  led  the  disaffected  multitude  out  of  the  com- 
munity of  the  Roman  Church,  Protestantism,  as  a  logical  system  of 
belief,  owes  its  existence  to  the  work  of  Calvin.  Calvinism,  rigid, 
logical,  and  abstract,  has  been  the  greatest  and  most  successful 
antagonist  ever  opposed  to  Catholicism.  The  personal  experience  of 
Luther,  out  of  which  grew  his  doctrine  of  faith,  might  pass  from  sight 
in  a  few  years  after  his  life  was  ended,  but  a  formal  statement  of  the 
same  truth,  based  on  clearly  defined,  logical  premises,  fortified  by 
ample  scriptural  reference,  would  stand,  yes,  would  increase  in  power 


54  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

when  its  author  should  be  forgotten.  Such  was  the  case  with  the 
soteriology  of  Luther  and  the  theology  of  Calvin. 

The  theology  of  Calvin  is  a  thoroughgoing  exposition  of  the  doc- 
trine of  God,  His  being,  as  such,  and  His  relations  to  the  world.  This 
system  of  •  thought  is  not,  however,  as  some  suppose,  wholly  due  to 
Calvin's  individual  work,  but  is  to  be  found  in  all  its  main  points  in 
the  system  of  Augustine.  Calvinism  is  an  exposition  of  Augustinian- 
ism.  This  is  the  explicit  claim  of  its  author.  He  represents  Deity  as 
the  mighty  ruler  over  a  revolted  state,  the  absolute  Sovereign  of  the 
universe.  God  upholds  all  things  by  the  exercise  of  His  will,  and 
governs  all  things  according  to  His  pleasure.7  Accordingly  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  chance  or  fortune.  Whether  storm  or  calm,  accident, 
life  or  death,  all  is  determined  by  the  counsel  of  His  will.  It  is  blas- 
phemy to  speak  of  the  laws  of  nature,  as  though  there  could  be  any- 
thing independent  of  God.  Whether  the  babe  finds  ample  food  at  its 
mother's  breast  or  is  but  sparingly  provided  for  is  determined  by  the 
will  of  Him  who  rules  over  all.2 

Thus  Calvin  saw  in  nature,  history,  and  revelation  the  exhibition  of 
this  divine  imperialism.  All  divine  commands  received  their  signifi- 
cance from  the  mere  fact  of  decree.  All  deeds  were  to  be  judged  as 
to  their  worth  in  the  light  of  obedience  to  the  divine  dictate.  It  is 
beyond  human  comprehension  how  this  view  can  be  consistent  with 
the  idea  of  Fatherhood,  but  it  is  to  be  accepted  through  faith,  as  it 
is  made  known  in  the  Scriptures.  It  would  be  fatal  to  suppose  that 
God  acts  capriciously  or  arbitrarily,  for  He  always  moves  toward  a 
worthy  end.  That  end,  however,  is  not  in  man  as  deserving  God's 
blessing,  but  in  Himself.  God  acts  always  in  view  of  His  own  good, 
and  thus  proves  His  omnipotence.  Such  views  of  God  Calvin  applied 
with  relentless  logic  to  the  doctrines  of  sin,  election,  regeneration, 
justification,  and  sanctification. 

The  whole  system  of  Calvinism  rests  on  the  assumption  of  the  fall 
of  man,  and  the  total  depravity  of  the  race.  The  race  was  on  proba- 
tion in  Adam.  He  was  free  to  obey,  yet  it  was  decreed  that  he  should 
fall.  Man  lost  all  right  to  happiness  in  the  transgression  of  Adam. 
Thus  the  race  was  plunged  into  ruin  and  wretchedness,  in  which  state 
no  individual  has  the  right  to  complain  at  misfortune,  and  if  blessing 
comes  to  him,  he  must  recognize  it  as  altogether  undeserved.  Since 
man  has  thus  lost  all  claim  on  the  favor  of  God,  he  cannot  justly 
criticise  God  for  blessing  one  individual  and  passing  by  another. 

'See  Ins..  1 : 16.  2  Ibid. 


REFORMED    THEOLOGY  55 

Hence  God  has  the  right  to  elect  a  portion  of  the  human  family 
and  to  draw  them  to  Himself  by  his  irresistible  grace.  The  rest  are 
justly  left  under  condemnation.  In  this  way  the  glory  of  God  is 
enhanced.1 

Christ  has  made  possible  the  bestowment  of  divine  blessing. 
Through  him  alone  man  comes  to  God.  Before  the  death  of  Christ 
no  one  was  reconciled.  The  penalty  of  man's  transgression  was 
removed  by  the  punishment  heaped  upon  the  suffering  Son  of  Man.2 
In  order  that  this  suffering  might  not  be  in  vain,  God  freely  chooses 
a  portion  of  the  race  to  be  partakers  of  this  beneficence.  Those  whom 
He  elects  He  calls  ;  those  whom  He  calls  He  justifies  ;  those  whom 
He  justifies  He  glorifies.  The  effect  of  the  bestowment  of  divine 
grace  on  the  individual  is  first  faith,  then  repentance,  then  justi- 
fication. 

The  early  Calvinists  were  consistent  in  maintaining  the  idea  that 
God  can  find  no  motive  outside  of  Himself,  no  cause  for  action  save 
the  dictate  of  His  own  will.  Why  He  wills  as  He  does  is  simply 
inscrutable.  Even  the  existence  of  sin  is  according  to  the  divine  will 
as  a  means  of  a  higher  glory.  The  holy  character,  the  justice,  of  God  is 
revealed  in  punishment  of  sin.  If  there  is  any  reason  for  election,  it  is 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  otherwise  there  might  be  wanting  those  who 
should  praise  Him.  A  few  Calvinists,  however,  the  sublapsarians,  sought 
to  free  God  from  the  responsibility  of  sin  in  the  world.  They  held  that 
the  decree  of  salvation  and  condemnation  was  entirely  dependent  on  the 
fall.  Adam  was  free  to  withstand  temptation.  It  was  not  decreed  that 
he  should  sin.  But  when  he  chose  evil,  and  as  a  consequence  brought 
condemnation  on  all  mankind,  God  sought  to  save  the  work  of  creation 
and  vindicate  His  own  character  by  redeeming  those  whom  He  saw  fit 
to  elect. 

However  Calvinism  be  construed,  it  is,  as  we  have  said,  Augustini- 
anism  with  the  ecclesiology  of  Augustine  eliminated.  The  doctrine  of 
individual  election  was  a  hard  blow  to  Roman  ecclesiasticism.  The 
doctrine  of  God's  will  in  revelation  was  sufficient  to  wrest  from  the 
Church  in  great  measure  its  long-claimed  authority.  The  general 
effect  of  the  system  has  ever  been  to  turn  men  to  God. 

1 "  We  shall  never  be  convinced  as  we  ought  to  be  that  our  salvation  flows  from 
the  fountain  of  God's  free  mercy  till  we  are  acquainted  with  His  eternal  election, 
which  illustrates  His  grace  by  this  comparison,  that  He  adopts  not  all  promiscuously 
to  the  hope  of  salvation,  but  gives  to  some  what  He  refuses  to  others." — Ins.,  3  :  21. 

2  Ins.,  2  :  16. 


56  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

III.       THE    OPPOSITION    TO    CALVINISM. 

A  rebound  from  the  extreme  positions  of  Calvinism  was  sure  to 
come.  There  soon  arose  a  class  of  thinkers  who  affirmed  that  the  doc- 
trine of  Calvin  destroyed  the  unity  of  God.  He  had  taught  that  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit  had  by  mutual  co-operation  wrought 
out  the  scheme  of  salvation.  The  Father  demanded  the  satisfaction  of 
justice;  the  Son  offered  himself  to  appease  the  Father's  anger;  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  the  agency  whereby  the  sacrifice  was  made 
effective.  Socinus  and  his  school  made  a  bold  protest  against  Calvin's 
idea  of  divine  justice,  claiming  that  such  an  idea  of  God  did  violence 
to  Jesus'  conception  of  Fatherhood.  There  is  no  such  justice  in  God 
as  an  attribute  which  requires  or  necessitates  that  sin  be  punished. 
God  is  and  always  was  in  the  attitude  of  forgiveness  toward  man.  Jesus 
was  not  a  sacrifice  to  God's  wrath,  but  a  revealer  of  God's  love.  Any 
other  view  of  the  Godhead  impairs  the  essential  unity  of  Deity.  The 
tri-theistic  view  of  God  has  no  basis  in  reason  or  revelation. 

This  practical  recoil  from  the  a  priori  assumptions  and  speculations 
of  Calvinism  was  strong  enough  to  bring  about  a  modification  of  its 
rigorous  doctrines.  The  sharp  arrow  of  criticism  had  struck  a  weak 
spot.  Under  the  leadership  of  such  men  as  Saumur,  Duncan,  Geddes, 
Cameron,  and  Cappell,  Calvinism  was  made  to  teach  that  God's  will  is 
universally  benevolent,  and  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  was  necessary,  not 
only  to  remove  the  obstacle  in  the  nature  of  God  which  hindered  man's 
approach  to  Him,  but  also  to  make  an  exhibition  of  His  boundless 
love.  Socinianism,  with  its  strong  practical  ethics,  was  thus  a  means  of 
tempering  the  extreme  views  of  the  Genevan  reformer,  and,  in  fact, 
ever  since  that  time  Unitarianism,  which  is  the  modern  form  of  the 
Socinian  theology,  has  exerted  a  wholesome  influence  in  correcting  the 
tendency  to  abstractness  in  orthodox  Christology. 

But  a  far  more  constructive  criticism  of  Calvinism  was  that  made 
by  Arminius  and  his  followers.1  If  Socinus  found  a  weak  point  in  the 
Calvinistic  doctrine  of  God,  Arminius  attempted  to  modify  Calvin's 
doctrine  of  man  and  to  set  forth  a  more  rational  view  of  the  principles 
of  equity  as  related  to  the  work  of  salvation.  He  concentrated  his 
whole  attention  on  the  problem  of  redemption.  He  took  as  a  funda- 
mental position  that  man  is  still  a  free  moral  agent,  capable  of 
responding  to  the  rational  appeal  of  the  moral  law  and  love,  and 
sought  to  inquire  what  would  under  such  circumstances  be  the  rela- 
tion of  God  to  him.  He  asked  the  very  pertinent  question  :  How 

1  Arminius,  1560-1609. 


MODERN  REVIVALS  57 

could  mankind  be  justly  condemned  on  account  of  Adam's  sin  ?  Could 
anyone  be  condemned  without  a  fair  trial  ?  Could  there  be  a  conscious- 
ness of  guilt  on  the  part  of  the  individual  who  certainly  was  not  con- 
scious of  committing  sin  when  Adam  fell  ?  How  can  man  be  regarded 
as  responsible  if  he  is  born  with  a  nature  completely  divested  of  all 
freedom  and  good  ? 

Arminius  said  that  Calvin's  attempt  to  exalt  God  had  degraded 
man.  Total  depravity  would,  if  carried  to  its  logical  conclusion, 
entirely  free  man  from  condemnation.  God  would  not  surely  con- 
demn anyone  who  never  had  the  ability  to  choose  the  right  for  him- 
self. Arminius  saw  in  man  a  being  made  in  God's  image ;  a  being 
damaged  by  sin,  but  not  hopelessly  so.  If  the  race  lapsed  in  Adam's 
sin,  man  was  still  free  to  choose  the  right,  and  had  the  power  also  to 
make  that  choice  significant.  Justice  to  the  individual  demanded  that 
each  should  be  treated  on  his  own  merits.  Personal  guilt  meant  per- 
sonal choice  of  wrong.  To  treat  man  on  any  other  basis  stripped  him 
of  every  vestige  of  manhood.  God  made  no  decree  regarding  indi- 
vidual election,  but  was  willing  to  save  all  those  who  exercised  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ.  Jesus  died  for  all  mankind,  and  not  only  for  those 
destined  to  believe  on  him.  Jesus  bore  the  penalty  of  sin  for  the  race, 
and  provided  a  way  by  which  the  salvation  of  every  man  was  a  possi- 
bility. For  God  to  arbitrarily  decree  that  only  a  few  should  be  saved 
would  be  an  act  unworthy  of  Him  who  is  the  essence  of  love  and 
equity. 

This  doctrine  of  man's  worth  and  essential  character  has  since  that 
time  been  effective  in  further  modifying  rigid,  abstract  Calvinism. 
Few,  if  any,  in  our  day  of  the  nominal  Calvinists  believe,  save  for 
theoretical  ends,  the  doctrine  of  man  as  expounded  by  Calvin. 
Opponents  to  our  own  dogmatism  often  save  our  dogma  from  utter 
barrenness. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 
THE  MODERN  REVIVALS. 

During  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  discoveries  in  the 
scientific  world  opened  a  new  sphere  for  human  thought.  Dogmatism 
in  religion  was  met  by  the  arch-enemy  of  traditionalism,  the  study  of 
nature  by  the  method  of  induction.  On  the  other  hand,  dogmatism 
was  attacked  by  a  growing  dissatisfaction  in  the  minds  of  the  common 
people  in  regard  to  the  results  of  so-called  orthodoxy.  The  most 


58  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

staunch  supporters  of  the  faith  were  so  concerned  with  keeping  the 
form  of  belief  intact  that,  although  busy  with  dispute  and  controversy, 
they  woefully  neglected  the  salvation  of  men.  This  dissatisfaction  led 
to  the  evangelical  revivals  and  turned  the  thought  of  Christianity  to 
the  great  problem  of  religious  life.  It  is  difficult  to  appreciate  the 
significance  of  these  movements,  because  we  live  in  an  atmosphere  of 
their  creation.  The  scientific  spirit  of  our  age  has  permeated  the 
Church,  and  no  thoughtful  Christian  would  wish  to  see  any  hindrance 
placed  in  the  way  of  rational  inquiry  into  all  subjects,  the  Bible  not 
excepted.  Likewise  the  spirit  of  evangelicalism  has  become  so  univer- 
sal that,  in  theory  at  least,  Christian  character  rather  than  forms  of 
belief  is  recognized  to  be  the  summum  bonum  of  life.  There  are  some 
well-meaning  bodies  of  Christians  who  are  still  living  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  or  at  best  have  not  advanced  beyond  the  days  of  Luther  and 
Calvin,  but  this  class  will  gradually  decrease  as  the  coming  century 
will  more  and  more  demand  intelligent  vital  godliness  on  the  part  of 
religious  people,  and  a  theology  which  is  in  harmony  with  the  prevail- 
ing philosophical  thought. 

I.     THE    EVANGELICAL    REVIVALS. 

The  seventeenth  century  should  have  been  a  time  of  remarkable 
religious  progress.  Instead  there  developed  innumerable  sects  whose 
constant  wrangling  brought  the  reform  movement  into  reproach,  a 
revival  of  the  scholastic  mode  of  thought,  an  almost  idolatrous  con- 
ception of  the  Bible,  religious  intolerance  among  the  supposed  cham- 
pions of  liberty,  as  well  as  extreme  formalism  in  religious  worship.1 

The  depression  in  religious  life  which  was  quite  universal  in 
Protestant  Christendom  was  the  occasion  of  the  rise  into  prominence 
of  deism.  Deism  is  an  example  of  religious  philosophy  out  of  which 
has  gone  the  inspiration  of  religion.  It  was  a  rationalistic  movement 
of  thought  in  opposition  to  the  arbitrary  view  of  Scripture  held  by  the 
orthodox  Calvinists.  Its  intention  was,  of  course,  broader  than  this, 
but  for  our  discussion  this  was  its  chief  significance.  It  was  a  spirit  of 
rational  inquiry  set  free  by  the  Cambridge  school  of  Platonists,  which 
soon  spread  into  France,  where  like  a  fire  it  threatened  to  consume 
the  temples  of  orthodox  faith.  From  France  the  movement  spread  to 
Germany,  where,  owing  to  the  more  constructive  temper  of  mind 
among  the  leading  philosophers,  reason  was  invoked  to  aid  rather 

1  "A  dead  rationalistic  orthodoxy  actually  usurped  the  glories  of  the  Reforma- 
tion."—  Stuckenberg,  Age  and  the  Church,  p.  131. 


MODERN  RE  VIVALS  5  9 

than  destroy  religion.  In  this  critical  movement  was  born  modern  Ger- 
man theology. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  just  as  the  religious  life 
of  the  Church  was  being  consumed  in  theological  controversy,  the 
heart  of  Christianity  in  England  was  stirred  as  it  had  never  been 
before  by  the  revival  known  as  Methodism,  whose  early  fortunes  were 
shaped  by  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield.1  Men  of  such  spirit  went 
through  the  land  proclaiming  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,  while 
the  leaders  of  ecclesiasticism  disputed  concerning  the  claims  of  reason. 
It  was  a  new  reformation,  born  of  the  vision  of  the  saving  Christ. 
Soon  the  whole  country  was  aflame  with  religious  enthusiasm.  Here 
was  the  beginning  of  modern  evangelicalism.2 

In  Germany  also  the  age  of  religious  decline  was  followed  by  a 
great  awakening  in  religious  devotion.  The  worldly  attitude  of  mind 
fostered  by  criticism  in  the  Lutheran  Church  was  the  occasion  of  the 
breaking  forth  like  a  refreshing  spring  in  the  desert  place  of  the  move- 
ment known  as  Pietism.  Pietism  was  the  answer  to  the  prayer  of 
Philip  Spener,  who,  when  court  preacher  at  Dresden  (1686),  said: 
"The  Lord  mercifully  keep  us  from  interpreting  Scripture  solely  from 
our  creeds,  and  so  erecting  the  genuine  popedom  in  the  midst  of  our 
Churches."3 

Spener  saw  in  the  current  theological  speculations  the  chief 
enemy  of  spiritual  progress.  He  made  a  violent  protest  against 
dissension  and  dispute,  and  proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  brotherly  love. 
Since  philosophy  was  the  cause  of  the  trouble  in  the  Church,  these 
seekers  after  godliness  believed  that  all  speculation  must  be  avoided. 
Consequently  Bible  schools  must  be  established  to  counteract  the  spirit 
of  rationalism.  Naturally  enough  the  Pietists  were  charged  with  being 
the  enemies  of  investigation  and  study  of  religious  things  and  opponents 
of  all  scientific  inquiry.  But  this  charge  was  not  borne  out  as  Pietism 
increased  in  influence.  The  University  of  Halle  became  the  centre  of 
the  movement.  Tubingen  and  Wurtemberg  also  gave  support  to  the 

1  John  Wesley,  1703-1791;  Whitefield,  1714-1770. 

3  Mr.  Lecky  thus  sums  up  the  influence  of  this  revival :  "  The  Evangelicals 
gradually  changed  the  whole  spirit  of  the  English  Church.  They  infused  into  it  a  new 
fire  and  passion  of  devotion,  kindled  a  spirit  of  fervent  philanthropy,  raised  the  stand- 
ard of  clerical  duty,  and  completely  altered  the  whole  tone  and  tendency  of  the 
preaching  of  its  ministers."  We  say  the  "beginning"  of  evangelicalism,  because 
Pietism,  although  of  earlier  date  than  Methodism,  did  not  continue  as  an  organized 
movement. 

3  Spener,  1635-1705. 


60  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

opinions  of  these  zealous  advocates  of  evangelical  Christianity.  It 
was  not  a  great  while  before  the  influence  of  this  revival  was  felt  in 
Zurich,  Berne,  portions  of  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden,  and  indeed 
the  whole  Lutheran  Church  was  affected  by  it  for  good. 

The  followers  of  Spener  and  Francke  were  not  qualified  to  give 
coherence  to  this  new  spirit,  and  as  a  result  Pietism  as  a  distinct, 
organized  movement  was  shortlived.  But  its  influence  has  not  yet 
ceased.  When  we  recall  the  heroic  struggles  and  successes  of  Zinzen- 
dorf  (1700-1760),  the  fact  that  thousands  have  been  blessed  by 
the  missionary  efforts  of  the  Moravians,  we  are  sure  that  Pietism  was 
not  in  vain.  Coupled  with  this  is  the  fact  that  Schleiermacher,  the 
greatest  theologian  of  the  nineteenth  century,  received  his  early  train- 
ing in  religious  devotion  at  the  hands  of  these  Christ-like  men.  The 
intention  of  the  Pietists,  if  not  their  religious  ideas,  will  ever  be  an 
inspiration  to  the  followers  of  Jesus. 

II.       THE    THEOLOGICAL    REVIVAL. 

The  nineteenth  century  has  witnessed  the  origin  and  partial  devel- 
opment of  a  new  theology.  It  has  been  made  necessary  because  of 
the  development  of  civilization  both  intellectually  and  socially.  It 
has  been  the  result  of  a  demand  on  the  part  of  the  Church  for  a  more 
vital  conception  of  God  than  that  wrought  out  by  theologians  of  the 
past  centuries,  for  a  more  rational  conception  of  the  method,  matter, 
and  purpose  of  revelation,  for  a  simpler  and  more  Christ-like  attitude 
of  will  toward  God  and  fellowmen. 

The  new  theology  is  inseparably  connected  with  the  work  and  life 
of  Schleiermacher.1  In  the  midst  of  the  controversy  between  those  who 
held  that  the  content  of  religious  faith  is  contrary  to  reason  and  those 
who  believed  with  Aquinas  that  religion  is  above  the  domain  of  scien- 
tific knowledge,  this  champion  of  a  new  view  in  religious  truth  is  heard 
declaring  that  Christianity  is  grounded  in  something  other  than  tradi- 
tional dogma  or  argument,  and  that  foundation,  sure  and  steadfast,  is 
the  individual's  experience  of  its  truth.  Living  testimony  of  the 
power  of  Christianity  puts  the  truth  of  religion  beyond  dispute.9 

In  this  idea  concerning  the  foundations  of  religion  is  easily  traced 
the  rising  influence  of  the  Kantian  philosophy.  He  throws  aside  the 
possibility  of  knowing  God  by  means  of  scientific  cognition,  but  for 
that  reason  is  the  more  emphatic  in  expounding  the  belief  that  religion 

Schleiermacher,  1768-1834. 

"See  Pfleiderer,  Development  of  Theology,  translated  by  J.  F.  Smith,  p.  103. 


MODERN  RE  VI VALS  6 1 

is  primarily  not  a  judgment  of  reason,  but  an  act  of  faith.  In  the 
heart  of  man  is  a  feeling  of  dependence  upon  the  Author  of  life. 
This  is  the  core  of  religion.  This  innermost  consciousness  of  depend- 
ence is  the  Holy  of  Holies.  Here  God  first  manifests  Himself,  and 
from  this  secret  place  issue  all  religious  activities.  The  sovereign  rule 
of  this  thought  of  dependence,  what  it  signifies  and  what  it  produces, 
is  salvation.  The  Christian's  experience  is  guaranteed  in  the  life  of 
the  Son  of  Man.  Nothing  was  more  evident  in  that  life  than  this 
same  consciousness  of  dependence  upon  the  Father.  The  consumma- 
tion of  the  life  and  work  of  Christ  was  reached  when  he  said  with 
sublime  submission  :  "  Not  my  will  but  thine  be  done."  That  atti- 
tude of  will  is  the  vital  union  between  man  and  God.  Without  it 
there  can  be  no  religious  life,  and  with  it  there  can  be  no  barren 
scepticism.  This  conception  with  its  attitude  of  respect,  rather 
than  submission  to  dogma,  is  the  very  keynote  of  modern  the- 
ology. 

The  further  development  of  Schleiermacher's  conception  of  religion 
has  been  left  to  others.  One  of  the  phases  of  the  new  thought,  which 
is  now  exercising  a  strong  influence  in  America  as  well  as  in  Germany, 
is  known  as  Ritschlianism  from  the  head  of  this  school,  the  late  Dr- 
Albrecht  "Ritschl.1  This  school  has  furnished  two  distinct  contribu- 
tions to  our  present-day  theology.  The  one  is  an  attempt  to  mark  out 
the  sphere  of  religion,  and  the  other  is  an  effort  to  set  forth  the 
grounds  upon  which  Christianity  as  a  final  form  of  faith  rests.  For 
its  philosophical  basis  this  new  movement  rests  upon  the  well-known 
distinction  drawn  by  Kant  between  theoretical  and  practical  reason.2 
Ritschlianism  positively  declares  that  religion  is  the  domain  of  appre- 
ciation, of  valuation,  rather  than  that  of  conception,  and  scien- 
tific or  logical  judgment.  The  test  of  religion  and  religious  truth, 
accordingly,  is  its  effectiveness  in  achieving  the  good.  They  with  one 
accord  say  through  a  recognized  leader,  Kaftan  :  "  Ecclesiastical  dogma 
in  its  present  form  seems  to  be  the  result  of  the  traditional  methods 
for  proving  the  truth  of  Christianity.  But  these  methods  are  becoming 
less  and  less  needful  in  establishing  that  truth.  These  attempts  must 
in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  be  unsuccessful.  Christianity  is  not  a 
subject  for  scientific  demonstration.  It  rests  not  upon  a  conception 
of  a  metaphysical  order.  It  is  guaranteed  by  the  fact  of  its  power  to 
lift  the  individual  to  the  highest  plane  of  moral  living." 

1  Ritschl,  1822-1889. 

2  Ritschl's  epistemology  is  practically  the  same  as  that  of  Lotze. 


62  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

This  school  is  not  sparing  of  its  criticisms  of  traditional  theology. 
According  to  their  standpoint,  theology  has  been  formal,  external,  logi- 
cally precise,  but  with  faulty  premises,  resting  the  whole  case  of  the 
truth  of  revelation,  not  upon  an  ethical  basis  experienced  and  tested, 
but  upon  the  fact  of  its  ability  to  maintain  itself  in  a  scheme  of  reason- 
ing. In  the  passion  for  logical  demonstration  the  theologians  have 
lost  the  purpose  and  motive  of  religious  thought.  A  return  to  the 
Christ  of  the  Gospels  is  necessary  in  order  that  a  simpler  form  of  faith 
may  prevail.  He  alone  is  the  source  of  religion.  The  cause  of  weak- 
ness in  the  Church  today  is  a  misconception  regarding  Jesus.  The  his- 
torical man  of  Nazareth,  the  God-man,  has  been  in  every  theological 
scheme  represented  as  a  being  abstract  and  unreal.  Theology  has  been 
wise  in  its  own  conceits.  Dominated  first  by  idealism,  then  by  realism, 
the  whole  movement  has  been  away  from  God,  who  is  not  a  thought, 
not  the  conclusion  of  a  syllogism,  but  an  infinite  will  revealed  in  all 
perfection  in  the  Jesus  of  history. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  FUTURE  OF  THEOLOGY. 

That  the  idea  of  God  held  by  the  Church  through  these  broad  peri- 
ods of  the  history  of  Christianity  has  undergone  serious  modification 
needs  not  to  be  repeated.  Every  theologian  has  contributed  his  share  to 
make  this  change  in  the  progressive  stages  of  thought.  Theology,  the 
work  of  individual  minds  as  is  all  philosophy,  is  nevertheless  a  growth 
conditioned  upon  the  ever-enlarging  experience  of  the  Church.  The 
theology  of  today  could  not  have  been  written  one  thousand  years  ago. 
The  new  phases  of  civilization  have  something  to  do  in  developing  the 
conception  of  God.  Scientific  inquiry  in  the  realms  of  nature  and  the 
Scriptures  has  made  possible  conceptions  of  the  mode  of  God's  work- 
ing which  were  unknown  before  the  scientific  age.  The  content  of 
modern  social  life,  in  putting  new  demands  upon  the  Church,  has 
forced  the  theologian  to  emphasize  the  ethical  and  social  nature  of  God. 
The  modern  triumphs  of  psychology  and  the  consequent  new  epis- 
temology  have  given  added  stability  to  the  function  of  faith,  and  in  a 
helpful  manner  have  limited  the  sphere  of  true  religious  knowledge. 
All  these  advances  of  life  and  thought  have,  as  it  were,  brought  God 
out  of  the  realm  of  abstraction  and  endowed  Him  with  attributes  that 
in  actual  human  experience  can  be  appreciated  as  never  before.  There 
is  a  certain  inspiration  in  the  modern  views  of  the  nature  of  Deity  that 


FUTURE  OF  THEOLOGY  63 

promises  well  for  the  future  of  the  Church.  But  with  all  this  modifica- 
tion the  final  form  of  theology  as  expressing  the  new  conception  is 
a  thing  of  the  future.  Theology  as  a  science,  while  governed  by  the 
fundamental  conception  of  the  Supreme  Being,  nevertheless  progresses 
much  more  slowly  than  its  normative  idea. 

Because  many  theologians  in  their  statement  of  Christian  truth 
have,  under  the  influence  of  their  philosophical  bias,  failed  to  express 
the  truth  as  revealed  in  the  consciousness  of  Jesus,  we  shall  not  find  in 
this  fact  a  ground  for  indiscriminate  or  universal  condemnation. 
Who,  pray,  is  not  compelled  to  err  thus  in  making  a  philosophical 
formulation  of  religion  ?  As  we  have  already  said,  no  theology  can 
be  perfect  until  the  absolute  philosophy  shall  have  been  wrought  out. 
Some  modern  theologians,  failing  to  appreciate  this  fact,  are  loud  with 
criticisms  of  the  bygone  time.  Because  the  progress  of  civilization 
has  put  a  different  lens  in  his  hand,  by  which  he  may  see  facts  in  a 
new  light,  the  aspirant  for  honors  in  this  field  is  too  frequently 
tempted  to  unjustly  criticise  those  who  were  not  so  fortunate  in  their 
search  for  truth. 

The  movement  in  thought  from  age  to  age  finds  its  counterpart  in 
organic  and  social  life.  The  seasons  come  and  go.  The  earth  ger- 
minates, grows,  blossoms,  ripens,  and  reposes  again.  Nations  rise  and 
fall.  Birth,  growth,  and  decay,  such  is  the  story  of  life.  Even  society 
conforms  to  the  law  of  progress.  Social  growth  is  first  a  conviction,  a 
life,  then  an  institution,  which  in  the  course  of  time  is  too  narrow  for 
the  life  within ;  then  follows  a  reform,  a  revolution,  a  new  order,  a  new 
adjustment,  and  the  process  is  repeated.  Religion,  too,  follows  the 
same  order.  From  a  spiritual  life,  the  result  of  inspiration,  to  a 
human  institution  the  movement  goes  on.  The  religion  of  Jesus  is  no 
exception  to  this  law.  In  the  lives  of  his  followers  religion  was  a 
mode  of  life  and  thought.  It  soon,  in  the  lives  of  the  Church  Fathers, 
became  a  philosophy,  a  creed,  and  an  organization  more  or  less  poli- 
tical in  character.  From  subjectivism  to  objectivism  the  pendulum 
has  swung.  Yet  the  movement  has  been  spiralling.  Each  circle  has 
passed  through  the  extremes  of  mysticism  and  institutionalism,  but  the 
successive  movements  have  been  on  higher  planes.  The  Christian 
religion  has  proved  to  be  too  great  a  force  for  any  institution  or 
formula  to  contain  it.  Institutions,  creeds,  theologies  are  but  human 
attempts  to  bind  it  down  for  human  needs.  New  needs  demand  new 
constructions.  The  new  wine  of  faith  can  never  be  held  in  the  old 
skins  of  logical  statement,  ceremony,  and  ritual.  The  truth  here,  as 


64  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

in  the  scientific  realm,  evolves  constantly  in  the  mind  of  man  with 
ever-increasing  significance. 

The  work  of  tracing  the  more  or  less  rhythmic  movements  in 
theology  has  in  the  preceding  pages  been  very  briefly  done.  From 
Clement  to  Ritschl  the  theology  of  the  Church  has  taken  on  almost 
every  conceivable  form.  The  Greeks  translated  the  religion  of  Jesus 
ideally,  and  formulated  a  transcendental  scheme  of  dogma.  The  per- 
sonal Christ  was  displaced  by  the  Logos,  and  arguments  concerning 
the  Trinity  took  the  place  of  genuine  religious  experience.  The 
Latin  theologians  took  up  the  guaranteed  faith  of  the  Apostles  and 
construed  it  after  the  forensic  manner  of  thought  common  in  Roman 
life.  Christianity  then  became  an  institution,  modeled  after  the 
Roman  Empire.  Under  the  influence  of  scholasticism  the  Church 
moved  farther  and  farther  away  from  the  spiritual  inspiration  of  Jesus, 
and  found  itself  at  length  in  the  barren  regions  of  formalism.  The 
Reformation  turned  the  movement  for  a  time  toward  its  original 
source,  which  meant  finally  a  new  Church  built  on  the  authority  of  the 
Book.  The  intolerant  dogmatism  of  the  new  Church  gave  rise  to 
rationalism,  which  in  Germany  ended  in  constructive  criticism.  Along 
with  rationalism  came  as  a  strong  counteracting  influence  the  modern 
evangelical  revivals.  Again  men  saw  Jesus  Christ  as  a  living  Saviour. 
Finally,  such  men  as  Schleiermacher  awoke  a  new  spirit  in  theology 
and  caused  a  fresh  breath  of  inspiration  to  come  into  the  dead  ration- 
alism of  the  schools.  We  are  living  today  in  the  atmosphere  made 
somewhat  free  from  the  mists  and  darkness  of  traditionalism  by  the 
recovery  of  the  historical  Christ.  All  honor  to  the  students  of  the 
Bible  who  in  later  years,  despite  the  prejudice  of  many  and  the  open 
persecution  of  some,  have  given  us  the  new  revelation.  The  light  of 
scientific  inquiry  has  given  a  new  meaning  to  the  Bible,  and  made 
possible  theological  reconstruction. 

In  the  past  theology  has  been  governed  by  ideas  of  God  which,  if 
scientific  discovery  is  not  altogether  wrong  in  its  method  and  results, 
must  be  abandoned.  Platonism,  Aristotelianism,  Stoicism,  Scholasti- 
cism, and  the  vast  majority  of  ancient  philosophies,  all  of  which  have 
in  large  measure  determined  Church  dogma,  have  been  outlived.  They 
stand  as  monuments  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  human  mind.  So  are 
many  of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  to  be  outlived.  The  saving 
power  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  has  not,  however,  lost  its  power.  Nor 
will  its  power  wane  as  long  as  human  hearts  need  solace  and  forgive- 
ness. Every  age  must  interpret  God  according  to  its  experience  and 


FUTURE  OF  THEOLOGY  65 

needs.  As  the  human  intellect  develops,  as  society  becomes  better 
organized,  as  moral  motives  become  intensified,  so  will  God  be  better 
understood.  The  Church  may  have  troublesome  seas  over  which  to 
pass.  Whatever  the  cause  of  the  storm,  coming  from  within  or  from 
without,  Jesus  Christ  will  ever  be  the  sheet-anchor  of  her  faith. 

The  future  of  theology  is  to  be  determined  by  the  interpretation 
given  to  the  idea  of  God  in  the  consciousness  of  Jesus.  Amid  all  the 
confusion  of  opposing  schools  in  our  day  may  be  distinctly  heard  an 
earnest  inquiry :  What  did  Jesus  think  of  God  ?  To  think  what  he 
thought,  to  value  life  according  to  his  standards,  to  appreciate  and 
appropriate  his  attitude  of  will,  is  to  know  his  religion.  Christianity  is., 
the  life  of  Jesus.  Christian  theology  is  the  science  of  that  life  in  us, 
from  the  standpoint  of  God.  To  take  the  attitude  of  mind  which 
characterized  Jesus  is  the  only  way  by  which  we  may  have  spiritual 
knowledge.  Jesus  is  authority  in  religion.  His  attitude  toward  the 
Scripture  should  characterize  him  who  attempts  to  expound  God's 
word.  The  theological  doctrines  of  Inspiration,  Sin,  Redemption, 
Resurrection,  and  Future  Life,  in  order  to  maintain  themselves  in  the 
best  thought  of  the  world,  must  be  in  accord  with  the  historical  career 
of  Jesus,  as  well  as  with  the  accepted  truth  of  natural  science  and 
philosophy. 

Theology  must  also  be  restated  in  terms  of  modern  life.  Our  age 
is  one  of  science.  Our  language  has  undergone  great  modification 
since  our  theology  was  written.  At  many  points  theology  fails  for 
this  reason  to  be  true  to  the  demands  and  spirit  of  the  time.  The 
man  who  has  received  his  education  in  the  schools  during  the  past 
twenty  years  is  very  likely  to  be  misunderstood  by  those  whose  forms 
of  thought  were  shaped  independent  of  the  scientific  spirit.  A  great 
deal  of  controversy  would  be  saved  if  the  opponents  in  dispute  could 
understand  each  other's  terms.1 

The  signs  of  the  hour  indicate  also  that  theology  is  to  be  simpli- 
fied. It  will  not  be  less  scientific,  but  more  so.  Its  range  of  observa- 
tion shall  widen  with  the  succeeding  years,  and  old  facts  will  have  new 
significance.  There  will  be  less  weight  given  to  ancient  philosophy 
and  creed.  The  real  discoveries  will  be  made  in  religion  rather  than 
in  metaphysics.  Thus  religion,  the  oldest  factor  in  human  life,  will 
ever  be  the  most  essential.  Religion  will  be  best  understood  in  the 

"  This  inconsistency  in  men's  words  when  they  come  to  reason  concerning  their 
tenets  ....  manifestly  fills  their  discourse  with  abundance  of  empty,  unintelligible 
noise  and  jargon." —  Locke,  Essay  Concerning  Human  Understanding,  Bk.  3,  ch.  10  . 


66  IDEA  OF  GOD  IN  RELATION  TO  THEOLOGY 

reflected  rays  of  civilization.  The  Kingdom  of  God  will  come  nearer 
and  still  nearer  as  a  vital  power  in  character.  The  truth  of  revelation 
will  be  mediated  in  faith,  and  arbitrary  dogma  will  gradually  pass 
away.  The  climax  of  human  thought  will  be  a  theology  which  makes 
most  luminous  the  character  of  Him  whom  Jesus  called  "Father"  and 
possible  the  highest  type  of  spiritual  life. 

And  this  reconstruction  in  theology  is  rapidly  taking  place.  The 
new  science  of  Biblical  theology  is  an  evidence  of  the  demand  for  a 
simpler  truth.  Men  have  worked  in  the  shadow  of  theories  of  inspira- 
tion, while  the  real  facts  of  Scripture  were  lost  to  view.  So  dominant 
have  the  theories  of  revelation  been  that  it  has  until  recently  been 
considered  an  indication  of  impiety  to  apply  scientific  methods  of 
inquiry  to  the  problem  of  the  growth  of  our  Sacred  literature.  For- 
tunately for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Church,  this  attitude  of  false 
reverence  for  the  Bible  is  passing  away.  The  coming  generation,  let 
us  hope,  will  have  fewer  worshipers  of  the  Book  and  more  believers 
in  its  revelation.  There  is  a  growing  class  of  earnest,  prayerful  men 
who  look  upon  the  Bible  as  a  record  of  religious  experience,  as  a 
record  of  what  God's  spirit  accomplishes  in  the  lives  of  devout  souls 
who  seek  to  do  His  will.  These  men  find  no  mechanical  unity  in  the 
Scriptures,  but  a  larger  and  more  significant  unity  of  spirit  life.  The 
final  authority  of  Scripture,  as  reflecting  the  life  and  motive  of  Christ, 
is  found  in  its  power  to  lead  man  out  of  sin  into  God. 

Accompanying  this  attitude  of  intensive  faith  in  the  Bible  as 
revelation  is  a  regard  for  the  worthfulness  of  man.  We  are  beginning 
to  appreciate  what  Jesus  meant  when  he  said  that  the  Sabbath  is  made 
for  man,  and  we  are  ready  to  apply  the  thought  to  all  forms  of  reli- 
gous  doctrine  and  worship.  If  theologians  are  loath  to  see  the  signifi- 
cance of  dogma  in  the  light  of  its  practical  outcome  in  the  lives  of 
men,  the  common  people  will  demand  such  a  view,  and  the  demand 
on  the  part  of  the  great  mass  of  Christian  people  will  be  strong 
enough  to  force  theory  to  give  way.  Man  is  coming  to  regard  institu- 
tions, creeds,  theologies,  and  religious  observances  from  the  stand- 
point of  their  helpfulness  in  overcoming  the  forces  which  retard  his 
best  development.  Whatever  else  is  lost  —  theories  of  sin  and  election, 
or  whatever  else  may  be  necessary  to  accomplish  the  end  —  man  must 
be  saved.  The  Church  will  take  its  place  in  the  very  center  of  the 
struggle  for  human  betterment,  and  whether  or  not  our  theories  of 
religion  maintain  themselves  in  the  progress  of  human  events  will 
depend  on  how  fully  they  include  all  the  deep  realities  of  the  soul  of 


FUTURE  OF  THEOLOGY  67 

man  in  its  upward  striving  and  all  of  God's  plan  concerning  human 
destiny. 

Theology  will  thus  continue  to  be  reconstructed  by  viewing  the  new 
world  in  which  we  live — the  new  world  of  material  blessing,  of  scientific 
advancement,  of  developed  intelligence,  of  increased  social  relations, 
of  intensified  moral  values,  of  simplified  worship — all  from  the 
exalted  standpoint  of  the  thought  in  the  mind  of  Jesus  when  he  spoke 
of  God  as  Father,  himself  as  Son,  the  sphere  of  his  activity  as  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  man  as  the  constant  recipient  of  the  Father's 
grace  and  love. 


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